Pediatric dentistry also called Pedodontics is the branch of dentistry concerned with children’s dental care from infancy until adolescence. It is recommended that every child be seen by a dentist as soon as their first primary or baby teeth erupt. A regular dental check up every 6 months is essential to keep their teeth and oral structures healthy. At Dr Tosun Dental Clinic our team of experts will take care of your child’s oral health for a functional dentition and a great smile for life.
Good oral hygiene is paramount
The primary role of the pediatric dentist is to follow up the oral health, growth, and development of the dentition and craniofacial structures of the child regularly. Educating the young child about how to take care of his/her teeth is also part of this role. Since prevention is better than cure, the pediatric dentist will make sure your young child’s teeth, gums, and jaws are healthy until the permanent teeth erupt.
Why is pediatric dentistry important?
Children need to visit the dentist even more often than adults do, as they go through many developmental and environmental changes. Moreover, a positive dental experience is extremely important for a child as dental phobia usually stems from a negative experience in a dental office at a young age. Pediatric dentists understand the psychology of the child and often try to establish rapport in the first visit. Dental treatments are then performed with a positive and caring attitude. At Dr Tosun Dental Clinic our primary focus is that children have positive dental experiences with us. We use cutting edge technologies to make children’s treatments painless and stress-free.
What types of pediatric treatments do we provide?
In our clinic we provide the following pediatric services:
- Comprehensive check-ups for infants and children
- Conservative/Preventative Dental services such as fissure sealants and fluoride varnish application to prevent primary and adult teeth from decaying.
- Restorative dentistry for primary and adult teeth.
- Root canal treatment/pulpotomy and pulpectomy on primary teeth.
- Root canal treatment for adult teeth.
- Conservative and Interceptive Orthodontic Treatments.
- Space maintainers to prevent orthodontic problems when permanent teeth erupt.
- Early Orthodontic treatments to correct functional problems such as:
- Cross bite
- Open bite
- Severe deep bite
- Prevention and correction of habits such as:
- Thumb sucking
- Tongue thrusting
- Mouth breathing
- Snoring
- Teeth Clenching
- Trauma care of the primary and adult teeth with endodontic and restorative treatments with fillings or pediatric crowns.
- Oral surgery treatment such as:
- Tooth extraction
- Exposure of the impacted teeth
- For anxious patients: Conscious sedation dentistry using Nitrous Oxide, also known as laughing gas
Why are baby (primary) teeth so important?
Baby teeth (also called primary teeth or milk teeth) start erupting at the 6th months after birth. There are 20 baby teeth in a healthy child’s mouth.
- Baby teeth help the young child to chew hard food as opposed to breastfeeding. Thus they are paramount for proper nutrition, growth, and development.
- Baby teeth are essential to creating clear sounds when speaking. Without teeth, children cannot develop proper speech.
- Baby teeth maintain the spaces of the permanent teeth on the dental arches. If a baby tooth is extracted or lost at an early age due to caries (or decay) or other diseases, the neighboring teeth will shift towards space and close it blocking the correct path of eruption of the permanent successor tooth. If your child loses a baby tooth early, you may ask your dentist to fit a space maintainer.
What is a space maintainer?
A space maintainer is a simply fixed metal appliance fitted on the neighboring tooth to maintain the space when a baby tooth has been extracted or lost too early. Space maintainers could also be removable like retainers, but they would have to be worn by the child regularly every day for it to be effective.
When should children start brushing their teeth?
Parents are encouraged to be role models for their children when it comes to taking care of their oral hygiene. Adults should supervise young kids to brush their teeth every day. After age 6 when the first permanent molars start to erupt, children can be encouraged to brush their teeth on their own. It is important that all the teeth surfaces are properly cleaned using a toothbrush. At Dr Tosun Dental Clinic we always spend ample time educating the young patients on correct tooth brushing and flossing techniques.
How to prevent caries in children’s teeth?
Tooth decay (or caries) is very common in children who have a sugary or acidic diet. Caries develop relatively fast, particularly on baby teeth, and may sometimes cause toothache. Bottle caries (putting a young child to sleep with a bottle of milk) are one of the causes of baby teeth cavities. Changing the child’s diet, avoiding bottle feeding for prolonged periods, and encouraging the child to brush his/her teeth with a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste regularly is important to prevent tooth decay. The application of fissure sealants and fluoride gel by the pediatric dentist is also highly recommended to prevent tooth decay in kids.
Why are dental sealants and fluoride toothpaste important?
Sealants are thin coatings of flowable filling material often applied on the deep grooves and pits of biting surfaces of back teeth, where dental caries often occur. This material fills the deep grooves of the teeth making them shallower and creating a barrier that protects them from decay. Sealants are completely safe and are highly recommended for children with a high caries rate.
Fluoride toothpaste has been approved by the ADA (American Dental Association) and very safe for children. At Dr Tosun Dental Clinic we highly recommend every child to brush their teeth with a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste twice a day and to visit the dentist regularly every 6 months for dental check ups.
Pediatric root canal treatment
Pediatric root canal treatments are performed to save primary teeth and prevent early extraction. When your child’s tooth has a deep cavity or an infection, they may experience constant pain or even an abscess. In this case, a root canal treatment may be recommended.
Root Canal Procedure
If your child has an abscess or a very deep cavity in a baby tooth, then a root canal treatment may be indicated depending on the time the tooth is meant to naturally fall out. If the time of shedding is not near, then a root canal treatment would be advised. However, if the tooth is nearing its natural shedding time, then removal or extraction of the tooth would be indicated with no further treatment.
If root canal treatment is recommended, the dentist will treat the tooth by removing the decay and infected pulp tissues under local anesthesia. Then the pulp chamber will be disinfected and sealed properly with either a filling or a baby tooth crown. This is a totally pain-free procedure. In our clinic, we use cutting-edge technologies such as Quick Sleeper, which is a painless injection technique, and Conscious Sedation (also called Nitrous Oxide or laughing gas) to make your child’s dental experience more comfortable and easy.
What is Quick Sleeper and how is it applied?
Quick Sleeper is a cutting-edge technology painless injection technique using an electronic pen in which the injection speed of the anesthetic is electronically controlled to optimize the injection time and eliminate pain. The anesthesia is fast with no post-operative pain or numbness of the lip or tongue.
What is Conscious Sedation?
Conscious Sedation is the use of Nitrous Oxide (or laughing gas), which is a compound of Nitrogen and Oxygen applied through a nose mask to make a patient feel more calm and relaxed during a dental procedure. Unlike general anesthesia, when a patient is treated with conscious sedation, he/she is awake during the procedure and capable of thinking rationally. This technique is very safe and the recovery is immediately after the gas delivery stops. If your child is very anxious about an upcoming dental procedure, please contact our team to enquire about the possibility of using the conscious sedation technique as part of the treatment.