Pediatric Dentistry

Pediatric Dental Fillings

During a filling appointment, we will help your child feel safe and relaxed in the dental chair. Depending on the needs of your child, we may ask that you wait in the waiting room to help the appointment go smoothly. If your child seems a little nervous, we have nitrous oxide or “laughing gas” available to help relieve some of their anxiety.
During the procedure, we will work with your child to achieve their cooperation throughout the procedure using a variety of behavior management techniques. The most common and effective technique used in pediatric dentistry is called the “Tell Show Do”. Most children respond very positively to TSD and are cooperative during procedures

Often, children become fearful of dental procedures because of the experiences of their parents. Please try to help us by being honest with your child about their appointment without making them afraid of their visit. Positive reinforcement is strongly encouraged to help your child learn appropriate and cooperative behavior.

An important aspect of pediatric caries maintenance is performing a caries risk assessment to determine the need to future adjuncts to caries prevention. Based on your child’s specific needs, we may prescribe in office fluoride, at home fluoride, or more frequent visits to our office to help control and prevent future decay.

The Importance of Fluoride Treatment

Enamel is one of the strongest substances on Earth. Unfortunately, acid from the foods you eat and bacteria in your mouth can eat the enamel of your teeth away. Fluoride helps keep enamel strong and aids in cavity prevention and sometimes even reversal by helping your enamel to remineralize and harden.

Professional Dental Cleaning

Our professional hygienist will perform a routine cleaning for your child to remove any hardened calculus and plaque that may have formed on your child’s teeth. After cleaning your child’s teeth with a combination of hand instruments ad state-of-the-art ultrasonic scaler, we will polish their teeth to bright, shiny perfection. Because kids are growing and their teeth are changing constantly, we strongly recommend bringing them in for regular examinations and cleanings every 6 months.

Oral Examination

The guidelines set forth by the American Academy of Pedatric Dentistry recommend that your child complete their first dental exam at the eruption of their first tooth or no later than their first birthday. These guidelines are based on comprehensive research that shows that early detection and management of children’s oral conditions impact their oral and general health and can help improve their school readiness. In contrast, delayed detection of oral conditions can result in extensive, often preventable problems that require costly, prolonged care. Additionally, children benefit from early exposure to the dental office because it alleviates unnecessary future anxiety about the unknown and allows us to establish a relationship for the future.

We will do an examination based on your child’s developmental level. For infants and toddlers, we may do this exam while sitting on the parent’s lap to help keep the child comfortable and relaxed. Our goal is to help assess your child’s oral health in a way that will help them feel comfortable coming to our office in the future.

During your child’s examination we will:

• We will assess the overall health and development of their teeth, tongue, and soft tissue
• Look for congenitally missing teeth and check for developmental abnormalities of the teeth, jaws, oral soft tissues
• Discuss any concerns regarding misalignment or crowding of the teeth
• Provide them with a positive experience and assuage any dental fears that they may have
• For more information, about children’s dentistry visit www.aapd.org