From routine cleanings to complex treatment or emergencies we offer a wide array of services.
- Preventative Dentistry
- Restorative Dentistry
- Sedation Dentistry
Cleanings/Oral Health Exams
Dental cleanings and exams are two of the most basic but important preventive treatments we provide at our office.
Each time your child visits us for a check-up (every 6 months), we will provide a professional teeth cleaning and dental exam by our Board Certified Pediatric Dentist.
Sports Mouth Guards
While many organized sports now require a child to wear protective gear, mouth guards are often overlooked. While all kids should wear mouthguards during contact sports, some children are at higher risk for injury.
As trained Board Certified Pediatric Dentists, we will evaluate your child’s dentition and bite to determine their risk and discuss measures to prevent injury.
Infant exams
The tooth colored fillings American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that children visit a dentist to receive an initial dental exam within six months of when their first tooth erupts! To promote prevention our focus is excellent oral hygiene and establishing good dietary habits.
Digital x-rays
Digital X-rays are one of the state-of-the-art diagnostic tools we use to provide your child with the best possible care and significantly less exposure. Digital radiography has changed the way we take dental X-rays by making the process faster, more comfortable, and more convenient than ever before. X-rays are very important in diagnosing tooth decay in between teeth. Merely looking at the teeth without x-rays misses over 60% of tooth decay.
X-rays are used in diagnosing abscessed teeth, decay, missing teeth, trauma, and jaw development
Dietary Education
Oral health depends on proper nutrition and healthy eating habits from the day you are born. Diet counseling is an integral part of anticipatory guidance during the infant oral health visit.
Our doctor and staff will evaluate each child’s dietary habits and educate the entire family on their findings in order to develop a lifetime of healthy choices.
Dental Sealants
A sealant is a bonded coating that can be applied to the chewing surfaces of back teeth. This prevents food and plaque from accumulating in the grooves, thereby reducing the risk of decay. Even with proper brushing, it can be difficult and sometimes impossible to remove food and bacteria from the tiny grooves and pits on the molars making the chewing surface of these teeth more vulnerable to developing cavities.
Applying sealants is a quick and comfortable procedure. According to the AAPD, sealants can reduce the risk of cavities on the chewing surface of molars by 72%!
Tooth Colored Fillings
Fillings are used to replace tooth structure that has been lost due to a cavity or trauma. The filling material that our office uses is safe and can usually be matched to the color of the tooth. Many parents have questions regarding why it is necessary to fill a cavity on a baby tooth. Baby teeth help children speak clearly and learn how to chew healthy foods in a normal manner. They form the path that adult teeth tend to follow as they begin to come in. Baby teeth need to be intact and in good condition for your child’s overall health.
We must remember the very important functions of baby teeth!
Pulpotomies, “Baby Root Canal”
“Your child needs a root canal”—words no parent wants to hear. Breathe easy! Nerve treatments on primary teeth are not the same as root canals on permanent teeth and we are trained to perform these “baby” root canals on young patients. We’ll hold your child’s hand every step of the way.
The nerve of the tooth is also called pulp tissue. When bacteria from a cavity penetrates into the pulp tissue, it becomes necessary to remove a portion of the pulp in order to prevent further pain and infection. Removal of pulp tissue (pulpotomy) is done quickly and comfortably. A medicament is then placed and the tooth is restored with a stainless steel crown for best results. Left untreated, the tooth will become further infected and possibly abscess
Extractions
An extraction may be indicated when a baby tooth has such long roots and does not fall out on schedule, a baby tooth becomes infected, or for guidance when the teeth may be too crowded because they are too large for the jaw.
Space Mantainers
When a baby tooth is lost prematurely, a space maintainer is required to maintain the space that it occupied. Without proper space maintenance, permanent teeth can become crowded or impacted within the bone.
Silver Diamine Fluoride
Tooth decay is the most prevalent chronic disease in children and adults. To protect the developing psyche of our youngest children and those with special needs, sometimes we employ Silver Diamine Fluoride to stop cavity progression without the need to numb or drill on a tooth.
Crowns
A dental crown is a restoration that covers a tooth, restoring it to its normal size and shape while strengthening and protecting it from further cracking or breakage. Crowns are necessary when a tooth is damaged by decay to the point that a filling is no longer a treatment option. Sometimes when a dentist removes significant tooth decay or performs a nerve treatment, he or she will recommend covering the child’s affected tooth with a crown.
Stainless steel crowns are silver crowns that cover the back teeth and preserve more of the tooth structure than other types of crowns. They withstand biting and chewing forces well and rarely chip or break. Stainless steel crowns are often used on young patients who are in active occlusion and require a crown that can adapt to an adjusting and growing mouth.
White crowns are used to strengthen decayed front teeth. They are can be strip crowns, made of a composite resin, or zirconia crowns. The zirconia crowns are more rigid and depend on a patient’s occlusion to be considered as a treatment option. White crowns are close in color to the natural teeth, so they are more cosmetically pleasing.
Dental crowns for children are generally completed in one visit, and will usually last until they are replaced by adult teeth.
Nitrous Oxide
Nitrous oxide or “laughing gas” is a safe and effective treatment, even for children. It’s used to sedate and calm patients who may feel anxious. For your child, it’s a relaxing and comfortable way to get through a dental procedure.
Your child will inhale nitrous oxide through a tiny mask placed over the nose. He or she should not experience any adverse effects. According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, less than 0.5% of young patients have nausea or vomiting.
Your child will breathe 100% oxygen for five minutes following use of nitrous oxide, this will also decrease the risk of nausea as well as the risk of headache and disorientation.
Hospital/IV Sedation
For our more severe cases of dental anxiety and for some of our children with special needs, general anesthesia or deep sedation, is required to receive comprehensive dental care in a safe and atraumatic fashion.