Offices in California & Arizona
Below are some of the common questions that I am often asked by my patients. Should you have any further questions about pediatric dentistry or our practice in particular, please feel free to call me at any time.
It is very important that your child is seen by a dentist who has received specialty training in treating very young children. A pediatric dentist is a specialist who has received an additional 2-3 years of full-time training.
According to both the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Pediatrics a child should find a dental home by age 1. This is extremely important because it is at this time that we prepare the parent and child to achieve optimal oral hygiene and care. Prevention needs to start at an early age.
It is extremely important to have it treated. Children only start losing their anterior teeth by age 6 and finally lose all their primary teeth by age 12. Thus, if a child has a cavity at age 3-4 by the time he will lose the tooth it will become much worse and ultimately infected.
In our practice all of our filling restorations are white in color. On small incipient lesions we use composite resin and then seal the undecayed portions of the tooth. The larger cavities are restored with Glass Ionomer fillings. Our filling material is very strong and has fluoride incorporated into the material. Thus, fluoride is constantly being leeched and makes the tooth more resistant to decay. However, if the tooth has a very large cavity that is either close to the nerve or at the nerve we perform a pulpotomy on the tooth. We call this a baby root canal in laymen terms. IT IS NOT A ROOT CANAL. It is a very quick procedure that allows us to treat the tooth and get the child out of pain. The tooth is then restored with a crown. The anterior teeth we do white strip crowns and on the posterior teeth either white flex crowns or stainless steel crowns. The white flex crowns are esthetically pleasing, but most insurances will not cover you for them.
There are 2 basic ways to treat children and make the appointment as atraumatic as possible. The first modality is called pediatric oral conscious sedation. The child is brought in the morning on an empty stomach and is given a “kiddy cocktail” of Vistaril and Versed that is administered orally per the child’s weight. In addition, the child receives Nitrous oxide when he/she is brought back to the operatory. In this method it is very important that the parent understands the child is not being put to sleep. We are getting him/her as relaxed as possible and the child is very sleepy and relaxed but conscious. The other method is IV sedation and that is accomplished with an anesthesiologist. The doctor will administer a narcotic to your child and after your child falls asleep he will place the IV and intubate the child. This procedure the child is completely asleep, however it is much more expensive and more risks are involved. Finally, with either method the parent does not accompany the child to the operatory. This is due to OSHA regulations, but more importantly the child and parent does much better when the parent is not in the room when the procedures are being performed.
