You and your child will meet the dentist. She will explain your child’s teeth and mouth, and (depending on your child’s age) clean his/her teeth and take x-rays.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry advises your baby have his/her first checkup by the age of one.

If your child has dental caries and requires dental treatment that could cause discomfort, then of course, we will use local anesthetic. To make this more comfortable, our office uses topical anesthetic first (strawberry or bubble gum jelly on a Q-tip). We then warm the “novacaine” with warm water, then inject the “novacaine” slowly and talk to your child to distract them. We make every effort not to show the “needle” to your child.

Our office uses no behavior altering drugs, sedating agents, or nitrous oxide.

Dr. Kirtland is on staff at Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital, the Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center, and we have a dental anesthesiologist, Dr. Zachary Messieha, who places our children under general anesthesia.

Unless your child is in extreme pain or has a swelling requiring emergency treatment, we do not perform routine dentistry on the first visit. It is a “meet the dentist” and tell-show-do day.

During the initial examination, we invite the parent(s) to come in with their children to get familiar with the office and meet the dentist and our staff. During future appointments, we have parents stay in the reception room while your child is accompanied by our staff to see Dr. Kirtland to establish a close relationship with your child while you are not present.

Our purpose is to gain your child's trust, and overcome fear. We do ask that children who are not being treated should remain in the reception room with an adult to ensure the safety and privacy of all other patients.

The office attempts to schedule appointments when we have availability and at your convenience. Younger children and children that need operative work are seen in the morning only because they are more alert, making it easier for us to work more slowly with them for their comfort. Missing school can be kept to a minimum when regular dental care is continued. Dental appointments are an excused absence.

If you do need to cancel an appointment, please notify our office 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment time so that we have sufficient time to schedule and notify other patients who need our care.

We keep our server in a locked room and we keep our charts in locked file cabinets. We also shred all information that is written down after it is given to us over the phone. For our website, we use HTTPS for secure transmission in our form center and any information provided is removed from our servers once it's been received by the office manager.

Every two years she attends the Comprehensive Review of Pediatric Dentistry given by the AAPD. It is 21 and 1/2 hours of continuing education over three days to stay on top of current research/topics. She also attends the quarterly continuing education meetings given by the Illinois Society of Pediatric Dentistry as well as the Wheaton Dental Society meetings which are every second Tuesday of the month during the school year. She also belongs to the Glen Ellyn Study Club.

Sarah, Jasmine and Nikki are all working toward becoming nationally certified dental assistants. They have passed two of the three required exams: Infection control and dental radiology.

Sarah, Jasmine, Nikki, and Pat, all of our full-time assistants, have taken an OSHA class. Pat has taken several practice management courses over the years.