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No advice, but following since LO will be 3 in September, and we'll need to take him for his first dental appointment as well. He still hates brushing his teeth.

We just go to my dentist which is a family dentist. What I like about it is we schedule our appointments together so LO watches my cleaning and then has hers. I think it helps her know what to expect and to feel comfortable.

I don't know what specific training a pediatric dentist has though.

I prefer one specializing in pediatric dentistry. Their office will be more child friendly in general and they will have tips/tricks to get your child to cooperate better. That's also why I prefer a pediatrician and not just a family doctor. They are trained and specifically want to work with children.

My LO isn't old enough to go to the dentist yet, but when we do, I expect to just take her to a family dentist. That is what I always did as a child and it worked really well to be able to schedule all of the family dental appointments at the same time. Plus, then the child can watch their parents go first and see that it isn't a big deal to go to the dentist, which might relieve some anxiety.

We had our first visit at 3 as well. And I had the same options (or more! DH and I have different dentists). We elected to use a pediatric dentist and I'm happy with the decision. It's certainly geared to kids and DD has handled it great. I'd call the pediatric and ask them how they handle that first visit. Ours does a "knee to knee" cleaning, where DD sat on my lap the whole time. On her second visit she sat in the chair, completely unattended. She went with the hygienist to get her x-rays and do her cleaning while I waited in the waiting area. The dentist came to give me the report afterward as she was picking her prize.

My dentist made the referral to this pediatric dentist (as did our pediatrician and my boss). I can't sing the praises of this route enough.

I'm debating this as well since DH and I currently go to his aunt who's our dental hygienist. I'm hoping he'll be more comfortable if he watched me and DH go first, but he hardly ever sees this aunt. If he did, I would take him there no questions asked because he's familiar with her. I might just take him to ours and see how he does. If it doesn't go well, I'll take him to a pediatric one.