Pediatric dentist treatments
What do Great Smiles pediatric dentists do?
Comprehensive care is at the core of Great Smiles. That’s why we offer a wide variety of pediatric dentist treatment services– from preventative care to restorative treatments. We want your family to feel confident you are receiving excellent care all the way around.
Pediatric Dentist treatment Services
Preventative Treatments
Sealants are a simple way to protect teeth and keep away decay and generally last about 3 to 5 years. For the best results, stay away from chewing ice or hard candy!
Fluoride is a substance that helps teeth remineralize and resist decay. In Pediatric dentistry, we can recommend fluoride supplements (usually in tablets or drops), if necessary.
Restorative Treatments
Fillings
When tooth decay does happen, we clean out the bad stuff and restore the tooth with a filling to keep it looking good and feeling strong.
Pulpotomy
Sometimes, our young patients will need a pulpotomy (also called a root canal) for major decay or an injury. We can create plan that is comfortable and effective.
Crowns
When fillings just won’t cut it, we can fix major decay or damage with a tooth crown. This protects the tooth and prevents further decay from causing more trouble for your child’s smile.
Additional Pediatric Dentist Treatments
While extractions are a last resort, they can be necessary for orthodontic and dental care reasons, like helping tooth alignment.
If we have to take out a primary tooth, we’ll use a space maintainer to make sure everything stays in the right place!
This procedure is where a compound is applied to the teeth to get rid of stubborn stains and discoloration.
Dental Anxiety in Kids & Their Caregivers
While parents and children can be anxious, Great Smiles strongly recommends families pursue regular checkups and recommended treatments. Waiting will likely lead to more dental issues.
2 Armfield, J., & Heaton, L. (2013). Management of fear and anxiety in the dental clinic: a review. Australian Dental Journal. Management of fear and anxiety in the dental clinic: a review. | Semantic Scholar
FAQ : Our expert answers
Why choose a pediatric dentist?
What is the youngest age to go to the dentist?
What is the difference between a dentist and a pediatric dentist?
Pediatric dentists are like regular dentists, but for kids! They have extra training to care for children’s teeth as they grow and develop. This includes things like:
- Taking care of baby teeth
- Knowing the right order teeth should come in
- Understanding how to make kids feel comfortable at the dentist
- Treating children with special needs
Affording the Best Care
Our Great Smiles team works to find the best way to fit great dental care into your budget, with awesome payment options, maximized insurance benefits, and affordable solutions. Our FAQ pages have some answers to common questions about Invisalign or braces costs as well as dentist costs. Or, feel free to contact us for help. Plus, research shows that early dental visits can lower long-term costs, so we encourage families to come visit us at one of our five Great Smiles Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics locations.
Patient Reviews
What to do in Meantime
Sometimes you might not be able to get to see an emergency pediatric dentist right away. We’ve got some important tips for the most common emergencies here!
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Knocked-Out Tooth
First, find the tooth. Always handle the tooth by the crown (that’s the big chewing part) and not the roots (the pointy side). You can rinse it off, but don’t handle it unnecessarily. After inspecting the tooth for fractures, you can try to reinsert the tooth into the socket if it’s undamaged (have your child bite down on gauze to keep it in place). If you can’t reinsert it, place the tooth in a cup of milk until you can see us. While baby teeth are not usually replaced, we recommend seeing your pediatric dentist ASAP!
Broken Tooth
Use warm water to rinse the injured area and apply a cold compress over the face. Find and save any pieces of the broken tooth that you can, and call your dentist for immediate treatment.
Cut or Bitten Tongue, Lip, or Cheek
Apply ice to bruised areas and apply firm pressure with a gauze or a cloth to areas that are bleeding. If the bleeding doesn’t stop after 15 minutes (or it doesn’t respond to applied pressure), head to the hospital emergency room.
Toothache
Toothaches are the worst, and you’ll want to make an appointment with your pediatric dentist since there could be decay, infection, or worse! To help with the toothache, clean the affected tooth thoroughly and rinse with warm water. You can use dental floss to remove any impacted food or debris. DO NOT place aspirin on the gum or tooth! If the face is swollen, use a cold compress to relieve some of the pain.
No matter what, you’ll want to take your child to the pediatric dentist as soon as possible if you have any of these dental emergencies. Even if you can’t get to the doctor right away, make an appointment for follow-up care or treatment for your little one.
