Spa-Inspired Oral Care: A new approach in paediatric dentistry

The aim of this paper is to illustrate a different way to take care of our little patients, starting from creating child-oriented environmental conditions and proceeding using a specific comfort technique in paediatric dentistry.

This concept of treatment arises from the inseparable relationship between body and psyche. It starts with instructions aimed at informing parents or caregivers not to prepare the child for the visit but to explain the child that he/she will be taken care in new ways. This is accomplished by approaching the child in an original setting without the traditional dental chair, and that can be the same dedicated room in which we will be able to provide the first care, as a part of a customised treatment, which does not consider only the clinical outcomes.

Spa-inspired oral care is the name we chose to describe this new way to treat our little patients, putting them at ease with a dedicated environment, characterised not only by drawings hung on the walls, but also by lights, music, videos and scents. Importance is also given to the choice of words, the dental team appearance, and instruments that allow the application of treatment and comfort techniques tailored to them, where 'how' can be more important than 'what'.