We understand looking for a childrens dental care can be difficult. Various factors are surrounding how to choose the best childrens dental care, does the dental office offer quality services and care? Will, my child get along with their dentist? How will their experience at a dentist office share their view about visiting the dentist? Does my insurance cover their dental services? When visiting a children’s dentistry, it’s important to keep these questions in mind to inquire about their services and coverage plan with a dental representative. You want to ensure the best dental care for your child to protect their lovely smile, learning more about comprehensive dental services and preventative care methods is a helpful resource that’ll last a lifetime in your child’s smile.
What To Know About Your Childs First Dentist Appointment
When bringing your child to meet their dentist, it’s crucial to relieve any anxiety your child might have about visiting the dentist office. Directly answering your child’s questions and concerns can prevent a phobia from developing that can impede a child’s teeth from adequately being cared for to prevent diseases. At a child’s first dental appointment there is typically very little treatment done. The first visit acts as an introductory period between parent, child, and dentist and poses questions and concerns about dental services and allows the child and dentist to get to know each other on a semi-personal level to ensure your child feels safe and comfortable in their dentist’s hands. There may be a portion in the introduction process that separates the parent from child to speak to them one-on-one about any questions and concerns the child might have about this new experience if the child is age appropriate.
A beginner, a routine assessment will be conducted to inspect the child’s oral hygiene and check for tooth eruption or decay, and any potential or existing problems concerning their gums, jaws, and oral tissues. During this route check-up, the dentist assesses the amount of dental work required and other preventative care methods (I.e., the need for fluoride, proper nutrition, teething, and oral habits) to ensure their normal dental development.
What’re The Differences Between Dentists?
All dentists aren’t the same, contrary to misconceptions surrounding what they do and don’t do. Different types of dentists specialize in certain areas of development in dental care; pediatric dental care and regular childrens dental care are the primary forms of child’s dentistry. Pediatric dentistry requires a pediatric dentist to have an additional two years of training after dental school. This additional training allows them to understand the importance of treatment in developing teeth and how it’s impacted by the child’s behaviors, growth and development, and other preventive measures for childrens dental care to ensure their dental developmental doesn’t continue to delay. Studies show tooth decay is a common issue in the U.S, nearly 20x times more common than diabetes and 5x times more common than childhood asthma, leading at least 1 in 5 children to have a lack of dental care in the U.S. Understanding the importance of dental developmental in a child’s development is imperative to creating a brighter future for them.
Common Dental Issues In Children
Tooth Decay: Tooth decay is considered the #1 problem of dental issues in children. Specifically, there is a type of tooth decay, Baby bottle, that occurs when a baby is continuously drinking sugary drinks (fruit juice with or without water, sugar water, milk, and formula) that eventually leads to tooth decay because bacteria in their mouth feed on the sugars. Tooth decay in infants can also occur if they fall asleep before fully digesting their milk.
Thumb Sucking: Children and infants alike have a habit of sucking on their thumbs for comfort purposes. However, when it progresses past the age of 5 after permanent teeth begin to come in, severe dental problems can arise — specifically, an overbite or an incorrect alignment causing their teeth to protrude causing their mouth to become malformed potentially.
Tongue thrusting: Similarly, to thumb sucking, the pressure against the front teeth can potentially push them out of alignment and create an overbite and possible speech impediment.
Lip sucking: Typically lip sucking and thumb sucking go together and lead to an overbite.
