We are able to offer kind and gentle treatment under local anaesthetic ABC Dental. We will liaise with the patient’s general medical or general dental practitioner and orthodontist to ensure that appropriate treatment is carried out with a considered view to the child’s future growth and facial development.
- Your child’s first appointment
- Your child’s diet
- Brushing
- Baby’s teeth: the early years
- Comforters, dummies and thumb sucking
- Restoring your child’s teeth
Your child’s first appointment
We try to make your child’s first dental appointment as relaxed and fun as possible. They will have the chance to explore a new environment and discover exciting facts about their own mouths. A visit to our surgery can be entertaining and enjoyable for children and their parents.
Dentistry has changed a great deal in the last twenty years. Children can expect to keep all their teeth healthy for the rest of their lives. Most dental diseases are avoidable; though this does depend on excellent supervised mouth care at home and regular visits to the hygienist and dentist who can identify and even reverse early cavities, monitor the growth and development of the face, and advise on prevention and diet.
Ideally your child should first visit us when very young – even as young as one or two years old -and long before there could be any necessity for treatment. This allows plenty of time for him or her to gain confidence and feel completely at ease in the surgery. It also gives us, the dentist and hygienist, the opportunity to ensure that the child starts life with every possible dental advantage.
Over the first few visits your child will be introduced to examination gloves, masks, the mouth mirror, the tooth pointer, the colourful mouthwash and much more, until he or she is familiar with everything in the surgery. If at a later date there is a need for dental treatment, the child will accept it willingly, as by then he or she will feel “at home” in the surgery.
At the first appointment we will investigate past and current medical and dental health and find out about their past experiences with medical and dental practitioners. We will then examine your child and take any necessary radiographs, and plan maintenance and any treatment. This is the ideal time for mum or dad to find out more about the best diet for the long-term health of their child’s teeth, and to obtain accurate advice regarding fluoride supplements and mouth-care at home.
Your child’s diet
Your diet can affect your teeth and mouth in many different ways, so it is especially important to monitor your child’s diet from early on.
Sugar in the diet is the most important cause of tooth decay. Without sugar in the diet it is virtually impossible for tooth decay to take place; too much sugar is also extremely bad for general health, and has been implicated in causing obesity, heart disease, and even eye problems.
Many authorities believe that a child’s taste for sugar is developed as an infant. Dentists’ children have always had less tooth decay; this is most probably due to a low-sugar diet. Sweet snacks have no useful role in a balanced diet and ideally would be eliminated – however this is usually not possible, particularly in today’s society.
The frequency of sugar consumption is far more important than the amount of sugar consumed. Frequent sugar intake will inevitably cause tooth decay, whereas large amounts of sugar consumed occasionally are probably safe, although not healthy.
Brushing
Brushing should start as soon as the first baby tooth erupts. Brushing should be carried out twice a day, and this should be supervised by an adult until at least 7 years old.
Children under 3 years should use no more than a smear of toothpaste and must not eat or lick toothpaste from the tube, as children will have a tendency to swallow toothpaste, which would then mean that they had an excessive flouride intake – this can cause “flourosis” of the adult teeth, causing the teeth to be greyish or flecked.
Rinsing with lots of water after brushing is not necessary and removes residual toothpaste in the mouth, which has a useful, direct effect on the tooth surface, making it harder and more resistant to decay – spitting out excess toothpaste is preferable. Regular 6 monthly appointments with the hygienist will help maintain ideal brushing techniques.
The hygienist may give disclosing tablets to you for your child to use to show up areas that are being missed
Baby’s teeth: the early years
Breast and bottle-feeding should be stopped around one year old. Prolonged and especially night time feeding can cause holes in the first (deciduous) teeth.
Soya infant formulae can cause cavities and should only be used under medical supervision. Drinks containing free sugars, including natural fruit juices, should be avoided between meals and should never be put in a feeding bottle.
In the first year it is best to encourage water or milk only. It is better to reduce exposure to ‘sugary foods’ in the first two years and try to keep sugars to meal times only. Never put your child to bed with a bottle or a beaker.
Teeth should be brushed with a smear of toothpaste as soon as they show in the mouth, helping to familiarize the baby with the brush and paste, and the act of tooth – brushing.
Comforters, dummies and thumb sucking
Children often stop thumb sucking by 3 to 4 years old. If thumb or dummy sucking continues beyond this age it can cause problems with the growth of the teeth, occasionaly necessitating complex orthodontic managment. If you have any concerns or want help with stopping the habit, please ask for advice.
Restoring your child’s first teeth
Tooth decay leads to the break down of the tooth tissue causing a hole (cavity). Once these holes have been cleaned they can be treated using different filling materials. For small cavities a white filling is usually used. Where there has been extensive decay, the nerve running through the tooth may become inflammed or die, requiring ‘pulp’ treatment.
Where treatment to the nerve has been carried out, or when there has been extensive loss of structure, a ‘stainless steel’ crown is sometimes placed. This allows the tooth to be retained for a few more years, making the tooth stronger and reducing the risk of decay from occurring on other surfaces.
