Your Child’s Oral
Care
Dentist Visits
Common Dental Procedures
It helps for children to know what to expect when they’re headed to the dentist
for more than a routine check-up. Here are some common procedures and what they
mean.
Fissure Sealants
The flat chewing surfaces of the teeth at the back of our mouth aren’t actually
all that flat. They’re full of little dents called ‘fissures’. This makes it easier
for decay to set in. If your dentist feels your child needs extra protection from
tooth decay, he may recommend sealing them up.
This is a simple and painless process, which can be performed on their big teeth.
A layer of plastic coating is applied which then hardens into a protective layer.
The effect is that the teeth are very well protected from decay.
Having A Filing
Despite the good news about dental health, tooth decay remains one of the most common
diseases of childhood. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), more than one quarter of 2- to 5-year-olds and half of kids 12 to 15 years
old have one or more cavities, and tooth decay has affected two thirds of 16- to
19-year-olds.
We thought it might be helpful for you to know what happens during a filling and
then, if you think your children would benefit from knowing, you can tell them.
It’s quite complex so you might want to skip some parts and tailor other parts for
your own children.
First, the dentist will give them a local anesthetic to stop them feeling any pain.
The dentist will remove the decayed part of the tooth using special tools — which
may whiz, whirl and tickle a little.
The dentist will then blow water and air onto the tooth to clean and dry it.
The dentist will then push the filling material into the cavity and shape it before
hardening it and trimming it to the right shape.
Crooked Teeth And Braces
Teeth don’t always grow the way we want them to. They can overlap or point in the
wrong direction. So sometimes your dentist will recommend straightening them with
braces.
Braces can either be removable or fixed. Removable ones have a plastic plate that
can be put into the mouth with wires and clips and can be taken out for eating or
cleaning. With fixed ones, the orthodontist glues a metal bracket to each tooth
and then runs a wire over them.
In either case, braces require children to pay extra attention to their brushing
so no food remains caught in the wires.
Spacers
There are several devices that the dentist may use to address space issues within
your child’s mouth. Here are a few of them.
PALATAL EXPANDER
A fixed or removable device used to make the upper jaw wider.
SEPARATOR
An elastic ring or small wire loop placed between the teeth to create space for
placement of bands use in orthodontics.
SPACE MAINTAINER
Holds the spot left by a baby tooth that is lost prematurely due to decay or injury.
When a baby tooth is lost early, the child's other teeth could shift and begin to
fill the vacant space. When the permanent teeth emerge, there's not enough room
for them. The result is crooked or crowded teeth and difficulties with chewing or
speaking. Later, when the permanent tooth emerges, your dentist removes the space
maintainer.