Children's Preventive Dentistry

A smile is a precious gift to hold on to forever, therefore, our #1 goal is to prevent, prevent, prevent! It is our priority to educate parents and their children about the lifetime benefits of preventive oral health care. Our 20 year preventive plan is aimed at parent and age appropriate child education. Our goal is to help prevent decay from ever occuring.

Let us show your child that going to the dentist is fun! We invite all of our kids to join our Frequent Flossers Club. This includes the FFC, our newsletter designed especially for kids. We also have special activities and prizes for healthy checkups!

Preventive dentistry means a healthy smile for your child. Children with healthy mouths chew more easily and gain more nutrients from the foods they eat. They learn to speak more quickly and clearly and have a better chance of general health. Disease in the mouth can endanger the rest of the body, and this is why our ultimate goal for your child is to PREVENT. Preventive dentistry means less extensive and less expensive treatment for your child.

Preventive dentistry begins with the first tooth. Please plan to make your child's first dental visit with us when your child's first tooth comes in. In your child's first visit, you will learn how to protect your infant's dental health. The earlier the dental visit, the better the chance of preventing dental disease and helping your child belong to the cavity-free generation.

You want to do all you can to ensure your baby's overall health, but have you thought about their dental health? Parents may think of a newborn baby as having no teeth, but the primary teeth that will erupt over the next few years are already present when your child is born. These teeth are crucial to your child's dental development and important to their total health. Parents make the difference by properly cleaning their child's teeth, helping prevent decay and creating good oral health care habits from an early age.

Primary or "baby" teeth serve your child the same way your teeth serve you: they enable proper chewing and correct speech development and affect facial appearance. Primary teeth also guide permanent teeth into place, aid in jaw and face formation, and influence your child's overall health.

  Don't allow your infant or toddler to fall asleep with a bottle or sip cup filled with anything but water.
  As long as your infant is taking the bottle or nursing, wipe the gums and teeth after each feeding. Progress to using a child toothbrush and brush at least twice daily, especially before bedtime.
  Around age 1, wean your infant from the bottle and begin teaching drinking from a regular cup.
  Try to make milk and juice available at meal and snack time only, so a child isn't "sipping" on these beverages throughout the day. Give your child water in between meals and snacks.
  It's not just what children drink, but what they eat! Many popular snacks, such as fruit roll-ups and gummy fruits, with natural sugars, can get stuck in and between tooth surfaces, making teeth harder to clean.
  What you can give your child as a alternative? Cheese for example, is not only healthy snack but has been shown to fight decay. Snacks like jello, pudding and yogurt may have just as much sugar as fruit roll-ups, but they won't be stuck on the teeth for long periods of time because they wash away more easily.

Dental infection results from an overgrowth of specific organisms that are part of normal occurring human flora. Human dental organisms need tooth structure to be present to survive. A child is not colonized until the eruption of the primary teeth at approximately 6 months old.

The most likely source of these organisms is the child’s mother, or primary caregiver, through shared utensils, etc. In fact, the bacteria in infants appear identical to those present in mothers in approximately 71% of mother-infant pairs. This is why we often see children of mothers with high caries rate more susceptible to decay and need more aggressive prevention.

With this information, we know that the first step in preventive dentistry of a child is to control the bacteria population in the mother or primary caregiver.

Studies show that the modification of the mother’s (or primary caregiver’s) bacterial population can significantly impact the child’s caries infection rate. Decreasing the levels of cariogenic bacteria in the mother (or primary caregiver) before and during the colonization process significantly impacts the child’s predisposition to cavities.

Decreasing the primary caregiver’s transmission of cariogenic bacteria can be accomplished by the following:

  The caregiver must be in a state of dental health (no active decay, gum disease, etc).
  The caregiver can be rinsing with a topical Fluoride (such as ACT or FLUORIGUARD) 1-2 times a day, and not rinsing for 30 minutes following.
  The caregiver can chew a xylitol, containing sugar free gum, 3-4 times a day.
  The caregiver can avoid sharing utensils; avoid oral cleansing of a baby’s pacifier, etc.

The American Association for Orthodontists recommends that every child have an orthodontic evaluation by the age of 7. Early detection and treatment may give your child an edge: a much better chance for natural and normal development. By working with the natural growth instead of against it, we can prevent problems from becoming worse, and give your child a lifetime of healthy smiles!

Every treatment may be initiated for:

  Habits such as tongue thrusting and thumb sucking
  A constricted airway die to swallen adenoids or tonsils
  Mouth breathing or snoring problems
  A bad bite
  Space Maintenance (for missing teeth)
  Bone problems (i.e. narrow or underdeveloped jaws)

Phase One-Functional (Growth) Appliance and/or Limited Braces - Ages 5-11: In the first phase, the doctor is interested in the position and symmetry of the jaws, future growth, spacing of the teeth, breathing and other oral habits which may, over a period of time, result in abnormal dentalfacial development.

Treatment initiated in this phase of development is often very successful and some times, though not always, can eliminate the need for future orthodontic treatment.

Phase Two - Braces - Ages 11-14: In the second phase, the doctor will be looking at how your child's teeth and jaws fit, and more specifically work together. Your child's teeth will be straightened and their occlusion (bite) is properly aligned. Attention will be given to the jaw joint, (TMJ), the facial profile, and periodontal (gum) tissues. By undergoing the first phase, we can usually reduce the amount of time needed for braces.

Facial trauma that results in fractured, displaced, or lost teeth can have significant negative funtional, esthetic, and psychological effects on children.

Preventing Sports Injury:

When a child begins to participate in recreational activities and organized sports, injuries can occur. A properly fitted mouth guard, or mouth protector, in an important piece of athletic gear can help protect your child's smile, and should be used during any activity that could result in a blow to the face or mouth.

Mouth guards help prevent broken teeth and injuries to the lips, tongue, face or jaw. A properly fitted mouth guard will stay in place while your child is wearing it, making it easy for them to talk and breathe.

When we place this softened thermoplastic wafer in the child's mouth and instruct them to "bite tight like a lion" we are recording the size and shape of teeth, the position of the teeth in the jaw, and the relationships of the jaw to each other. The impression is a permanent record like fingerprints, it is unique to every individual. Even identical twins have different Toothprints. Children should have Toothprints at age 3-4, again at age 8-9 and finally at aghe 11-12, if there are no fillings or other dental identifiers. The other major advantage to the impression is (1) the saliva provides cells for DNA sample, and (2) the saliva scent on the wafer can be used for scent dogs to track lost or missing children.

Check out Caninesforkids.com for more information on the scent tracking dog studies.

Why Use Xylitol?

Studies using xylitol as either a sugar substitute or a small dietary addition have demonstrated a dramatic reduction in new tooth decay, along with arrest and even some reversal of existing dental caries. Xylitol provides additional protection that enhances all existing prevention methods.

Xylitol is natural. Our bodies produce up to 15 grams of xylitol from other food sources using established energy pathways. Xylitol is not a strange or artificial substance, but a normal part of everyday metabolism.

How to use Xylitol:

Xylitol can be conveniently delivered to your teeth via chewing gum, tablets, or even candy. You can implement your xylitol program anywhere, anytime. It is not necessary to replace all sweeteners to get the dental benefits of xylitol. Look for xylitol sweetened products that encourage chewing or sucking to keep the xylitol in contact with your teeth. The best items use xylitol as the principal sweetener.

When the element fluoride is used in small amounts on a routine basis, it helps to prevent tooth decay. It encourages "remineralization," a strengthening of weak areas on the teeth. These spots are the beginning of cavity formation. Fluoride occurs naturally in water and in many different foods, as well as in dental products such as toothpaste, mouth rinses, gels, varnish and supplements. Fluoride is effective when combined with a healthy diet and good oral hygiene. Fluoride is documented to be safe and highly effective.

Systemic Fluoride - Research indicates water fluoridation has decreased the decay rate by over 50 percent. It is important that your child is drinking the water to receive the benefits. If you are uncertain whether you are in a fluoridated water community, call your local water utility company or have your water tested to be sure. Water Filters: It is also important to know that a water filter may filter out Fluoride. We recommend that if you are using a filter on your sink, you should have your filtered water tested.

Topical Fluoride - Fluoride toothpastes and rinses are also shown to fight decay. Only small amounts of fluoride are necessary for the maximum benefit. Proper toothpaste amount must be supervised, and other forms of fluoride supplementations must be carefully monitored in order to prevent a potential overdose and unsightly spots on the developing permanent teeth. Do not leave toothpaste tubes where young children can reach them.

As with any other therapeutic agent, fluoride has a potential to produce undesirable side effects if used improperly.

Parents, caregivers and school officials should consider how the school environment may increase consumption of soda pop and other non-carbonated beverages, like fruit and sports drinks. These drinks are low in nutritional value and contain sugar and acid. Because the acid and sugar in these drinks work together to attack tooth enamel, over consumption can increase the risk for tooth decay. Drinking too much of these beverages can affect overall health too, as more nutritious beverages are being displaced from the diet because of the soft drink consumption.

Systemic Fluoride - Research indicates water fluoridation has decreased the decay rate by over 50 percent. It is important that your child is drinking the water to receive the benefits. If you are uncertain whether you are in a fluoridated water community, call your local water utility company or have your water tested to be sure. Water Filters: It is also important to know that a water filter may filter out Fluoride. We recommend that if you are using a filter on your sink, you should have your filtered water tested.

Topical Fluoride - Fluoride toothpastes and rinses are also shown to fight decay. Only small amounts of fluoride are necessary for the maximum benefit. Proper toothpaste amount must be supervised, and other forms of fluoride supplementations must be carefully monitored in order to prevent a potential overdose and unsightly spots on the developing permanent teeth. Do not leave toothpaste tubes where young children can reach them.

As with any other therapeutic agent fluoride has a potential to produce undesirable side effects if used improperly.

A sealant is a plastic material (resin) applied to the chewing surfaces of the back teeth --- the premolars and molars. The resin bonds to the depressions and grooves (called pits and fissures) in the back teeth. A sealant is a barrier that protects tooth enamel from plaque and acids.

Sealants are necessary because the back teeth have uneven pits and fissures that are difficult to keep clean because toothbrush bristles cannot reach into them. The pits and fissures hold plaque and food debris. Most tooth decay occurs in these hard-to-clean grooves. Sealants form a thin covering to keep out plaque and debris and decrease the risk of decay.