Preventive care
Preventive care in dentistry is very important for both primary teeth and permanent teeth. Preventive care helps prevent early onset of caries, infections, alignment issues and prevents start of any deleterious oral habits. Prevention starts with the eruption if the first tooth. Maintaining your child’s health is your most important role. Bringing your child for their well-teeth check-up every 6 months is essential for keeping your child’s teeth healthy and allows us to partner with you to establish healthy oral hygiene routines.
Who needs preventive dental care?
If your child has/ does any of the following, please be assured you need to look at a preventive dental aspect for your child.
- Frequent snacking
- Sips on sugary drinks
- Improper brushing
- Bad breath
- Crowded teeth
- Slow eating
- Poor chewing habits
- Poor tooth structure.
- Deep grooves on teeth with food accumulation.
Preventive measures in the clinic
Sealants
The deep pits and grooves seen on teeth are considered factors for formation of cavities as they are difficult to clean. Sealants are placed on the deep pits and grooves to make them self-cleansable. Sealant is a resin material that is thin and sets as a tooth colored filling. Sealants reduce the risk of cavities by around 80 percent. Once applied they last a few years but need to be checked on every few months to assess if there is a need for reapplication.
Fluoride varnish
When cavities are caused by bacteria they form acids which rapidly demineralize the tooth. Topical use of fluoride helps maintain the pH thereby preventing and bacteria to cause damage to the tooth. Fluoride varnish is applied topically on all teeth where it forms a protective coating on all the teeth. Reapplication is required 2 or 4 times a year.
Education
Do you find yourself asking how to get your child’s teeth brushed twice a day when there are days you are chasing them down the hallway just to get dressed? For our youngest new patients, we will provide you with helpful tips on how to be successful when you attempt to brush their teeth, as well as how to kick those nurturing habits such as using a bottle at bed-time, pacifier or thumb sucking.
Preventive measures at home
Eating habits
Proper usage of the oral muscles help with maintaining an ideal jaw growth preventing any teeth alignment issues. Chewing your food on both sides of your mouth helps establish a good muscle- jaw relationship.
Avoid frequent snacking on sugary, starchy snacks.
Shorter meal times without distraction helps preventing food stagnation that can cause cavities.
Oral hygiene
- A good oral hygiene is very important at all ages.
- It starts brushing twice regularly with a fluoridated toothpaste.
- Staying hydrated helps reduce accumulation of plaque.
- Rinse your mouth after every meal.
Foods that can help keep your mouth clean:
- Carrots
- Apples
- Leafy vegetables
- Cheese
- Milk and other dairy products
Helpful Tips
1. Frequency is key to help keep your child cavity-free! Limit the number of snacks times throughout the day
2. Avoid starchy snacks, such as crackers, bread, cookies, and chips which can linger in the grooves of the teeth making cavity mode last longer
3. Shop smart and stock your fridge and pantry with healthy snacks. Save the sugary, starchy snacks for special occasions or at mealtime
4. Choose healthier snacks such as yogurt, cheese, peanut butter, and even dark chocolate, which has antioxidant properties
5. Soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, and even juices tend to be acidic which can breakdown the enamel even faster
6. Don’t lick or sip – the longer it takes to lick a hard piece of candy or drink a sugary beverage, the greater the damage
7. Drink at one sitting or with food and drink only water to hydrate