Step 1. You say hello
You come in, and someone says your name. There is a box of books and a fish tank. Nothing happens yet.
For grown-ups Arrive ten minutes early for the first visit so there is paperwork time that is not appointment time.
Step 2. The chair goes up and down
The big chair moves! You get to make it go up. If you would rather sit on a grown-up, that is allowed too.
For grown-ups For under-threes we do a knee-to-knee exam with you holding your child, facing you the whole time.
Step 3. We count your teeth
We count them out loud with a little mirror. You can hold the mirror. Some children get to two, some get to twenty.
For grown-ups This is a full examination: soft tissues, bite, eruption pattern, decay risk. It just does not look like one.
Step 4. The tickly toothbrush
A spinny brush that tickles and tastes like bubblegum, strawberry or mint. You pick.
For grown-ups A prophy cleaning, then fluoride varnish for most children. Varnish sets in seconds; eat soft food for two hours.
Step 5. You choose a prize
You did it. The treasure box is by the desk and you get to pick one thing from it.
For grown-ups We book the next check-up before you leave, and send you home with what we actually saw, in writing.
Paediatric dentistry · Columbus, OH
Big feelings.
Small teeth.
We are good with both.
A dental practice built at a child's eye height, for ages one to eighteen — including the children other practices found difficult. Medicaid and CHIP accepted.
- Medicaid & CHIP accepted
- Ages 1 to 18
- Sensory-friendly visits
The four things parents ask us first
Answered here, before you have to ring anyone.
Do you take Medicaid?
Yes — Ohio Medicaid managed care plans and CHIP. We check your eligibility on the phone before you come in.
What we acceptWhen should the first visit be?
By the first birthday, or within six months of the first tooth. It is mostly talking, and it takes about half an hour.
What happensWill it hurt?
We will not promise you a pain-free visit — nobody honest can. We will tell your child what each thing feels like first, and stop when they ask.
How we workMy child cannot cope with a normal appointment.
Then we do not book a normal appointment. Desensitising visits, quiet room, headphones, and as many goes as it takes.
Special needs care
What we do
Everything a child needs from their first tooth to their last exam before college.
First visits & check-ups
A first visit by the first birthday or the first tooth, then a check-up about every six months. Short, unhurried, and mostly talking.
Read moreCleanings, fluoride & sealants
The everyday work that keeps small teeth out of trouble: a gentle polish, fluoride varnish, and sealants on the grooves where decay starts.
Read moreFillings, crowns & pulpotomies
When a cavity has already started: tooth-coloured fillings, stainless steel and white crowns, pulpotomies, and honest advice about when a baby tooth is better out.
Read moreComfort & sedation
Most children need nothing more than time and a good explanation. When more is needed we use nitrous oxide, oral sedation, or a hospital general anaesthetic — and we tell you plainly which one fits.
Read moreGrowth, space & early orthodontic screening
A first orthodontic look by about age 7, space maintainers when a baby tooth is lost early, and a straight answer about whether anything needs doing yet.
Read more
Your first visit, in five pictures
Read this one out loud. It is written for a child to follow.
For the grown-up in the room
A real clinic, photographed honestly
The illustrations above are for your child. This part is for you. Every operatory is set up for children specifically — smaller instruments, a ceiling screen, and a nurse whose entire job during a filling is to keep your child calm.
- Instruments are heat-sterilised in sealed pouches and opened in front of you.
- You are welcome in the room at any age, for any appointment.
- Written estimates before treatment, not after.
Special needs & sensory-friendly
If a normal appointment will not work, we will not book one
Dr Raman plans visits backwards from what your child can actually manage. Sometimes that is three appointments where nothing clinical happens at all — a ride in the chair, a look at the light, a hello to the suction — before anyone attempts a cleaning. That is not a wasted appointment. That is the appointment.
Quiet room, weighted blanket, headphones, sunglasses, no overhead announcements, first or last slot of the day so the waiting room is empty. Tell us what your child needs and we will write it into their notes so you never have to explain it twice.
How sensory-friendly visits workWhat parents pinned up
Notes from the corkboard by the front desk.
He had screamed through his last two appointments somewhere else. Here they spent the first visit just counting his teeth with a mirror and let him keep the mirror. Second visit he sat on his own.
They found four cavities and did not make me feel like a bad mother about it. We did two visits, nitrous for the back one, and she asked to go back.
My daughter is autistic and sound is the problem, not the dentist. Dr Raman booked three visits where nothing happened at all before the cleaning. Nobody has ever done that for us.
He knocked his front tooth clean out on the driveway. I rang at 8pm and someone actually answered and told me exactly what to do with it. We were in the next morning.
We are on Medicaid and I am used to being told to call back. Kelly checked it while I was standing at the desk and booked us there and then.
They told us she did not need braces yet and to come back in a year. No sales pitch. That is the whole reason we stayed.
Illustrative notes written for this demonstration site. They are not real patient reviews, and this site publishes no star rating or aggregate score.
Something has happened tonight?
A knocked-out permanent tooth is a minutes-matter emergency. A knocked-out baby tooth must not be put back. The instructions for both — plus broken teeth, swelling, bitten lips and jaw injuries — are on one page, written to be read in a hurry.
Ready when you are
Book a first visit online, or ring us and speak to a person. We will tell you what the appointment involves before you come.