Pediatric Dentist Barrie
Why Are Primary Teeth So Important?
Pediatric Dentist is treating a child
It is important that your child visits a pediatric dentist regularly. Do you know that baby teeth play an important role in speech, nutrition, and self-image? They are not just “temporary teeth”! They play a vital part in your child’s early development. It is very important to maintain the health of primary teeth. A sore baby tooth can affect your child’s eating and sleep, which can slow growth.
If your child prematurely loses a baby tooth, the teeth next to the missing tooth can drift into the gap. This reduces the space for the adult tooth growing under the missing baby tooth. In addition, the missing baby tooth can no longer guide the permanent teeth into their correct position.
Premature loss of a baby tooth affects the growth of the jaw bone and muscles of the face. The roots of a baby tooth maintain the bone and gum tissue, a site for the future permanent tooth. Together, baby teeth hold the vertical dimension of the face, allowing the jaw joints, facial bones and muscles to form.
Primary teeth affect the appearance of the child. The front 4 teeth last until 6-7 years of age, and the back teeth (cuspids and molars) aren’t replaced until the age of 10-13. Keeping primary teeth healthy will enable your child to undergo his/her dental milestones in a smooth fashion. Visiting a pediatric dentist regularly prevents issues in the future.
Does My Child Need An X-Ray?
Radiographs (x rays) are a vital and necessary part of your child’s dental diagnostic process. Without them, certain dental conditions can and will be missed. In addition to detecting cavities, dental x rays help survey erupting teeth, diagnose bone diseases, evaluate the results of an injury, or plan orthodontic treatment. Without a proper radiograph, caries in between the teeth cannot be detected during a clinical examination. If dental problems are not found and treated early, dental care becomes much less comfortable for your child and more expensive for you.
At Maplewood Dental, we offer our patient digital dental x rays. The amount of radiation received during one digital dental x-ray is extremely small. The risk of overexposure is negligible due to lead body aprons and thyroid shields that protect your child. Our modern x-ray equipment is inspected yearly and it’s so safe that it filters out unnecessary x rays and restricts the beam to the tiny area of the sensor that is in the mouth. Therefore, a dental radiograph represents a far smaller risk than an undetected and untreated dental problem.
When My Child Visits A Pediatric Dentist What Services Should He Get?
After a thorough exam and x-ray review, Dr. Oxana recommends that all her pediatric clients with healthy primary and/or permanent teeth undergo preventive therapy. This includes dental cleaning, polishing to smooth dental enamel, and fluoride treatment. The water in Barrie does not have fluoride, and fluoride is a mineral that is used to strengthen the enamel that helps to prevent tooth decay. At Maplewood Dental, our younger patients undergo a fluoride varnish treatment, which eliminates fluoride ingestion and prolongs the contact (and repair) period of fluoride on tooth enamel.
A healthy set of teeth may need some preventive sealants of the pits and fissures to help prevent tooth decay. They are typically done on your child’s newly erupted permanent teeth. Although very effective in keeping food stuck in the deep crevices of a tooth, sealants can break off and should be checked at every appointment and immediately replaced if damaged.
To treat tooth decay, we only use white composite resin fillings. At Maplewood Dental, we use the newest and safest formulation of white filling material that has no BPA and is very long lasting. We have no sensitivity and no incidence of fillings falling out because we use materials and techniques that are the best in durability and safety. The days of mercury fillings are done, and we are not looking back!
In some cases, a cavity can progress close to or into the nerve of the tooth. In this case, the decayed portion of the tooth and the pulp of the tooth are cleaned out, and a dressing is placed over the roots prior to placing a white filling. This procedure prevents significant discomfort from the pulp that was inflamed and filled with bacteria that entered through the cavity.
Can My Child Stay Calm During The Treatment?
We provide a friendly and loving environment to guide your child’s behavior and promote a positive experience in a dental chair. We use “show, tell and do” to answer your child’s questions and we use humour and children’s television shows to distract them form overthinking the process. Children are usually wowed by our TVs on the ceilings and a variety of satellite children’s shows that they can watch. Laughing gas can provide a mild analgesia and is a good distracting tool. Laughing gas is a nitrous oxide and it is safe and effective and can be used on children 3 years and up.
At Maplewood Dental, we strive to make your child’s smile happy and healthy. Dr. Oxana has a special approach with children. Her confidence, 13-year experience and gentle touch allow her to work on children of various ages. A high percentage of children get cavities at the age of 5, when the baby teeth get tighter from the pushing forces of the molars developing behind them. We can perform all the procedures necessary to restore the child to the proper dental health directly at our office.
Maplewood dental has experienced pediatric dentist on board that is ready to help you. In case your child needs an emergency treatment contact Maplewood dental. Visit our Facebook to see our happy little patients holding balloons and prizes at the end of their treatments.