PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY (FOR KIDS BELOW 14 YRS)

The branch of dentistry which deals with care of children’s teeth from birth through adolescence.  Just as in all other aspects, childhood constitutes the formative years of an individual including several aspects of one’s general & oral health. This is why preventing & arresting tooth decay must begin at an early age. We always aim to give a well-equipped, child-friendly, sterile environment within our facility not just to alleviate pain, but also the fear of dentistry. Apart from treatments, the Pedodontist and the clinic team is extensively concerned with prevention of dental disease, misalignment of teeth, untimely loss of tooth in future for which preventive procedures have to be undertaken without any delay.

Preventive Procedures undertaken by us

• Use of fluoride and preventive sealants to seal the deep pits and fissures of newly formed permanent molars until the child is old enough to maintain them with brushing
• Instructions on proper diet.
• Education, motivation & instructions on practice of good oral hygiene.
• Preventive appliances are used where a pedodontist diagnoses an ensuing misalignment and intercepts it by providing an appliance so as to prevent further deterioration and misalignment of teeth.

Dental Procedures for Children’s Teeth at the Center

• Fillings of decayed teeth with durable, compatible tooth colored materials.
• Corrective appliances for habits such as Thumb or finger-sucking, Tongue thrusting, mouth breathing etc.
• Root canal treatment of milk teeth if necessary (where it is still time for the permanent teeth) to erupt.
• Capping or crowning decayed, broken, deformed, root canal treated teeth to preserve the tooth till it is time for it to shed. Material used may be Stainless steel or Zirconia ceramics.

Here’s why treating a Deciduous (Milk) Tooth at an early stage is important

• Cavities spread rapidly in milk teeth. Since Permanent tooth buds lie right under the milk teeth, any decay process left untreated can begin to damage the newly-forming tooth buds.
• Allowing decay/cavity to persist in the mouth increases the concentration of harmful bacteria in the child’s mouth, making other teeth prone to decay as well.
• The relatively rapid spread of decay to pulp of the milk tooth can lead to a lot of pain and discomfort for the child, giving rise to more extensive treatments such as Root canal treatment etc. or untimely extraction of such infected teeth.
• If pain & extensive decay causes a tooth to be removed prematurely, it can often close the space for the permanent tooth which needs adequate space to erupt properly leading to alignment issues and the need for an orthodontic treatment later.

Preventive Appliances ( Interceptive Orthodontics ) for Children

Changing lifestyle and eating habits has made this aspect of pedodontic treatments quite crucial. Untimely loss of tooth due to increase in incidence of tooth decay among kids, childhood habits, dietary habits, underdeveloped or narrow jaw makes the available space for permanent teeth much lesser than optimum, making these teeth crowded or overlapped or sometimes even unerupted. Therefore, a pediatric dentist is trained to intercept such changes in the jaw much before all milk teeth fall out at an early age itself and provide corrective appliances which may aid in future alignment corrections or may even prevent an orthodontic treatment.