Pediatric dentistry

CONSULTATION – CHECK-UPS

Regular dental check-ups are very important in childhood: they are the surest way to keep teeth healthy and to keep an eye on how the child’s teeth and jaw develop by time.
During these appointments, the pediatric dentist’s main task is to examine your child’s teeth to discover dental issues or anything suspicious, such as issues presenting during the process of losing milk teeth, or the development of the jaw.

Regular dental consultations can help parents and children in the prevention of severe dental problems – and it helps us, dentists to catch them early enough to choose the most effective treatment options.

HELPING CHILDREN GET ACCUSTOMED GRADUALLY

The majority of even adult patients battles with anxiety or even panic whenever they have to visit the dentist. Unfortunately, this often means that they postpone the visits until the pain becomes too much to bare – which is too late. The reason behind this is almost always some kind of trauma from earlier in life – possibly from having been forced to undergo treatments in childhood. If you have the time and energy to invest in the comfort of your child, the fears will sooner or later disappear with a method of gradual exposure. This will build a positive lifelong relationship with dentists. Regular dental check-ups can prevent serious dental problems and diminish the fear of treatments in adulthood.

LASER CAVITY ASSESSMENT

Thanks to modern technology, we can now take serious measures to protect teeth. One of the most significant innovations in the field of preventive dentistry is the laser instrument used for measuring cavities, which can detect the earliest stages of tooth decay. It’s an immense help for dentists in the early detection of cavities developing between two teeth, in the assessment of tooth surface changes, and can also be used for regular check-ups of teeth which have been treated with pit and fissure sealing.

This examination also helps us to decide whether a tooth can be treated with ozone therapy, or whether other interventions might be needed.

OZONE THERAPY – A NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR TREATING BEGINNING CAVITIES

In the past, early tooth decay could only be treated by drilling and removing part of the tooth material. Thanks to dynamic scientific developments in dentistry, there is a new therapy for treating cavities: the HealOzone treatment. This therapy can only be used on cavities which are still in an early stage. Our pediatric dentists use a laser cavity detector to assess this. 

Ozone treatment starts with placing a special silicone cap on the tooth which adheres to the tooth tightly and creates a vacuum. This ensures that only the part to be treated is exposed to ozone. The tooth is then treated for 20 seconds. The intensive disinfectant gas kills 99.9% of the bacteria that can cause decay – without the need for drilling. The gel applied after the ozone treatment has a high fluoride content, which helps the regeneration of the damaged tooth tissue. In order to protect the health of your children’s teeth, we recommend a check-up every six months, which can also help in detecting any possible dental problems early. 

TREATING CAVITIES – FILLING MILK TEETH

Cavities in milk teeth should be treated the same way as those in permanent teeth. Milk teeth not only play an important role in chewing, but also in the process of growing out permanent teeth, as they act as “spacers” for these in the growing phase. The early loss of a milk tooth can cause various problems, and if a cavity is left untreated, it can even affect the health of permanent teeth.

We offer fillings made from high quality, fluoride-containing, light-curing cement, which allows children to eat or drink immediately after treatment. All of our dentists involved in fillings provide results with outstanding aesthetics, so that the filling blends in perfectly with its surroundings.

PIT AND FISSURE SEALING

Statistics have shown that 60-80% of cavities in children and adolescents start out in the grooves (pits and fissures) of the chewing surface of teeth. These regions are the most vulnerable areas of the teeth in this life stage.
Considering that teeth with deeper pits and fissures are harder to keep clean – food particles trapped here provide a hotbed for bacteria causing tooth decay – and that children have trouble brushing their back teeth, we can conclude that these two interrelated factors are responsible for a significant part of cavities in early life. Pit and fissure sealing was developed by pediatric dentists exactly to offer a solution to this statistically documented dental problem. The procedure of pit and fissure sealing deserves special attention from a health policy perspective.

During the intervention, the surface of back teeth with deeper grooves is first cleaned thoroughly, then filled up with a special liquid sealant. This smooths out the deep pits and fissures, and protects the surface against tooth decay. With continuous monitoring, this treatment can provide protection against cavities for many years to come.

ORAL HYGIENE TREATMENT, DENTAL SCALING – INSTRUCTIONS AND MOTIVATION

Almost every dental problem can be prevented by a thorough cleaning routine started in childhood. But how exactly do you brush properly? Which one is better: an electric or a manual toothbrush? How long should you brush? Which toothpaste is the best? How do you clean the spaces between the teeth?

INSTRUCTIONS AND MOTIVATIONS FOR CHILDREN

As a first step during an oral hygiene treatment, we ask the child to brush their teeth with their own toothbrush. After this, we continue with plaque staining: we use a purple solution which colors the plaque left on the teeth, so the child can see where they need pay more attention during brushing. We explain and teach the child in detail how they can keep their teeth clean at home every day. We give them tips about the proper brushing technique depending on age, as insufficient brushing can have serious consequences. Parents should also watch the instructions we present on the plastic tooth model used for such guidance, so they can check whether their child is following our advice properly at home.

ROOT CANAL TREATMENT

Many people think that milk teeth have no roots, but they do. The roots of milk teeth can also become inflamed at times – the symptom of this is usually a small, pimple-like bump on the gums, a small nodule which can even ooze pus.

In such cases, we open the tooth via the dental surface and clean the roots, thereby reducing and eliminating the inflammation. The treatment is finished with a filling, which is used to close the tooth again. A medicated paste is placed under the filling to kill any bacteria which might have remained on the inside.

Root canal treatments can be carried out on milk teeth just as on permanent teeth. However, the procedure is different in the two categories.
This is due to the special nature of milk teeth. Because the roots of milk teeth are absorbed when the child loses them, we would need to use a filling material which can be absorbed at the same speed as the root material itself. This would obviously be impossible given the current standard of medical science. That’s why milk teeth require a different kind of root canal technology, and why the roots of root canal-treated milk teeth cannot be permanently filled.

CONSCIOUS SEDATION

Conscious sedation is an option to choose if a child displays a very strong fear response to dental treatment; it can help us carry out the required interventions much easier. As the name suggests, the patient won’t be asleep, but they will become more cooperative – by eliminating their fears -, however, they will not remember the treatment.
We always need a medical consultation before considering any dental treatment carried out under conscious sedation. At this consultation, the doctor can examine the child’s general condition and any dental problems and to assess the need for a sedation.
Just like all kinds of medicated sedation, this procedure can also involve risks!
Conscious sedation is always carried out by an anesthetist, which also means it is only available on certain pre-scheduled days at our pediatric dentistry.

PEDIATRIC ORAL SURGERY

Even children need oral surgery sometimes. Minor tooth extractions can be carried out at our children’s dentistry, but more complex interventions are performed by an experienced oral surgeon in our adult dental clinic. Such cases include:

Tooth injuries

Tooth extractions

Labial frenectomy

As this procedure requires an oral surgical background, it is carried out at our adult SoulDental Clinic.

ORTHODONTICS

You can’t start early enough!
Irregular teeth are not simply an aesthetic issue. The aim of orthodontic therapy is not just to give you nice-looking teeth, but also to solve any issues in the mouth – because if teeth are not aligned properly, they can cause problems with chewing and phonation.
Irregularly growing teeth can make eating painful and interfere with clear speech, not to mention the increased risk of developing cavities and gum diseases. 

Orthodontics can also help to solve problems like overcrowding, gaps, and tilting or protruding teeth. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to growing teeth from early childhood.

WHAT IS THE BEST TIME TO START ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT? 

It’s possible to start orthodontic therapies as early as the age of four. At this age, we can already treat the irregularities of the jaw bones and of teeth, and guide the direction they grow.
It’s a good idea to take children to a dental check-up at this early age (even though they still have milk teeth), and start any treatment necessary in time, as we can prevent more severe problems which would present later. You can read about orthodontics for children and for adults here.

Pediatric orthodontics – SoulDental Dentistry

Orthodontics – DentalKópé – The fairytale dentistry