Our team provides care for every member of your family, including babies, toddlers, kids, and teens. From preventive treatments like checkups to lifelike and holistic restorations, we can help children maintain good oral health. In today’s blog, your Lake Orion, MI, dentist talks about our approach to children’s dentistry.
The First Visit
When should your child see the dentist for the first time? We typically recommend a visit at around age one, when the initial baby tooth erupts. This is a wellness visit in which we conduct a simple knee-to-knee lap exam, so we can make sure teeth are erupting properly and that your child’s smile is healthy. At around age two, we suggest a checkup and cleaning visit every six months, just like you enjoy!
Checkups and Cleanings
The checkup visit involves our team using advanced imaging technology to conduct a thorough diagnosis of your child’s smile, so we identify any issues in the early stages and treat them before your little one experiences major discomfort. For example, we will look for indicators of tooth decay and gingivitis, as well as teeth grinding and issues with the primary teeth erupting and falling out on time. We also want to make sure that permanent teeth have a clear path to eruption so your little one doesn’t develop major misalignment that requires orthodontics down the road. These visits also let us instill good oral health habits, and limit the risk of dental anxiety, as your child becomes accustomed to seeing the dentist and better understands the importance of good oral hygiene.
In the same visit, we will clean the teeth. The dental cleaning enables our team to remove all plaque and tartar that forms on the surfaces of the smile. This brightens smiles and fights bad breath, while also limiting the risk of cavities and gingivitis too.
Dental Fillings
What if we discover your little one has a cavity? While baby teeth do fall out, this could happen months or even years after the cavity has formed, and lack of care can mean major discomfort and the risk of premature tooth loss, a major factor in the onset of misalignment. Even baby teeth need treatment and we can offer this in one visit with a filling. Instead of metal, we use a composite resin that is holistic and safe for all ages. This is biocompatible and bonds with the tooth, so your child avoids further discomfort and the risk of an infection. We could also discuss holistic crowns, made from materials like porcelain or zirconia, should your child have a more severe case of tooth decay or a damaged tooth.
Fluoride Treatment
We want to help kids avoid the onset of tooth decay when possible, which is why as part of their six month checkup and cleaning visit, we can apply fluoride directly to the smile in a varnish form. The material will help strengthen the weakened portions of the tooth to fight cavities and keep the smile strong. The application takes seconds, and kids need to avoid food and drink for about 30 minutes as it cures fully. We also suggest using a fluoride toothpaste, with those three and younger using only a rice sized blot, and everyone else using a pea sized amount.
Dental Sealants
We can also help fight the onset of tooth decay with dental sealants. Even kids who brush and floss regularly may have trouble reaching the rear teeth, which means the molars are more likely to develop a cavity. But with dental sealants, we apply an acrylic coating to these to molars that prevents food and drink particles from being trapped between them. The application takes seconds and again, kids just need to avoid food and drinks for about a half hour. The layers can stay in place for up to ten years in some cases, wearing away regularly with time but clinging the longest to the more vulnerable portion of the teeth.
Care at Home
As we touched on above, we love talking to kids about ways to protect their smiles from home in between our six-month office visits. We can talk about proper brushing and flossing, smile healthy snacks and meal options, and wearing mouthguards if they play sports. We want your little ones to enjoy optimal oral health and a smile that shines, and that stays that way with daily care and routine appointments to our office for checkups and cleanings.
TALK TO YOUR LAKE ORION, MI, DENTIST ABOUT PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY
Our team offers care to safeguard little smiles of all ages. Find out more about our pediatric treatment options by contacting Lake Orion Family Dentistry at (248)693-6213!
