Great dental care is just as important for children as it is for adults. Kids are particularly prone to dental health issues—including cavities, stains, and dental damage—due to their youthful sweet tooths, active lifestyles, and often rushed-through dental hygiene routines.
Tooth decay, even on your child’s baby teeth, can cause significant discomfort and set the stage for further dental issues down the road. Silverdale Dental Center’s pediatric dentist is committed to providing exceptional preventive dental care for our youngest patients to protect their teeth and keep them smiling for years to come.
Our Staff Will Take Care of Your Child’s Smile
The experienced pediatric dental team at Silverdale Dental Center works hard to keep your child’s mouth free from tooth decay and other dental health complications. We believe the best way to keep your child’s smile healthy and strong is to prevent plaque buildup, dental decay, and gum disease from happening in the first place.
Extra Care for Patients With Special Needs
We welcome patients of all backgrounds at Silverdale Dental Center! Our pediatric dentist at Silverdale is trained to help patients with special needs of all ages.
Patients of all ages on the autism spectrum, with developmental delay, cerebral palsy, or other medically complex concerns are all welcome to see our highly skilled pediatric team. We’ll help make them feel happy and comfortable as we help them with their oral health care.
Preventive Dentistry for Healthy, Happy Smiles
By teaching healthy habits and implementing outstanding preventive practices, you can rest easy knowing your child’s teeth remain in great condition and on track to stay bright, white, and healthy all the way through graduation and beyond.
Healthy Eating
Your child’s teeth benefit from a well-balanced diet just like the rest of his or her body, and healthy eating help lead to healthy teeth. The CDC recommends your child consume foods from all 5 food categories. For more information on a healthy diet visit the CDC’s website.
We know kids require frequent snacks to fuel their growing bodies. We recommend choosing nutritious snack foods such as:
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Low-fat yogurt
- Low-fat cheese
- Nuts
Nutrient-filled snacks like these are great to promote a healthy body as well as healthy teeth.
Oral Hygiene
Cavity-causing bacteria feed on leftover food in the mouth. Unfortunately, snack time can do a lot to wreak havoc on your child’s smile. The more frequently kids eat, the more frequently their teeth can experience a cavity-causing attack.
Tips for Toddlers and Infants: We recommend wiping out the mouths of infants and toddlers with a soft, wet washcloth after each feeding to remove any residual food that bacteria use to create tooth decay. We also recommend not putting your baby to bed with anything other than water in their bottle, as even the sugars in milk and other drinks can linger on the teeth and gums long after they have fallen asleep.
Tips for Older Children: For older kids, we recommend brushing at least twice a day and flossing once a day. Flossing is crucial for the removal of any residual food for the bacteria from spaces between teeth where the toothbrush can not reach. Cleaning their teeth should be the last thing your children do at night, with nothing to eat or drink afterward other than water before going to sleep.
Fluoride
Fluoride is a natural element that is proven to be beneficial to forming teeth as well as existing teeth. At the correct dosage, fluoride helps strengthen teeth, reduces the ability of oral bacteria to form a cavity, and can help re-mineralize teeth more quickly following an acid attack.
Although fluoride has many beneficial roles in preventing cavities, excessive fluoride can have detrimental effects. Often, parents are unaware of a child’s potential sources of fluoride, including:
- Excessive fluoridated toothpaste at a young age
- Inappropriate use of fluoride supplements
- Hidden fluoride in your child’s water or juices
- High levels of fluoride in dry baby formulas or cereals
To be safe, make sure to read the labels of all food products before offering them to your child.
Also be very careful when first starting to brush your child’s teeth, as many children under age 3 won’t be able to fully spit out toothpaste at that age. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends using no more than a ‘rice grain’ sized amount of fluoridated toothpaste twice a day for children less than 3 years old, and no more than a ‘pea-sized’ amount of fluoridated toothpaste twice a day for children ages 3 to 6 years old.
Children should be supervised when using fluoridated toothpaste, especially until they can reliably spit out the toothpaste on their own.
Sealants
Sealants are helpful, protective coatings that are applied to the chewing surfaces of back teeth to fill in deep pits and grooves. These pits and grooves are exceptionally prone to cavities with 80–90% of cavities in children occurring on chewing surfaces.
Sealants help prevent cavity-causing contaminants from getting stuck in the deep crevices of the back molars, effectively shielding your child’s sensitive tooth enamel from harmful decay and deterioration.
Ask our pediatric dentist at your child’s next appointment if sealants are right for their teeth.
Mouth Guards
Participation in organized sports is a wonderful way to teach your child social skills such as teamwork and dedication. However, sports-related injuries to the mouth can occur. Fortunately, a properly fitted mouth guard is an excellent way to reduce the risk of injury.
We recommend that your child use one anytime there is a risk of trauma to the face or mouth. Ask one of our pediatric dentists about our recommendations for your child.
Set Up a Preventive Dental Appointment for Your Child Today
From regular dental check-ups to specialty exams, the friendly team at Silverdale Dental Center is happy to help. Call our practice today to schedule an appointment.
