Pediatric dentistry is a pretty tough medicine branch which requires proper skills and techniques to treat a child’s oral health problems.
We should remember that a child has very delicate gums, a fresh pair of milk teeth, and a developing immune system that is susceptible to strong medicines and complicated treatments!
Nevertheless, prevention is always better than cure, and that’s why it is important to take all the right measures surrounding oral health from an early age, for your kid to have a healthy smile in the future!
Many believe that orthodontic treatment for kids is irrelevant until all the permanent teeth make their onset!
At some point they are quiet true, but not completely!
Orthodontic treatment at such an early age, where milk teeth are still prevalent, may hinder the natural growth of the future pair of permanent teeth.
But that should not always be the case. There might be other instances, where, if proper treatment is not done at the right time, then the rising and coming out of the permanent teeth may be misaligned and faulty!
But obviously, if you are just another humble parent, who barely understands the complex terms of medicine, then,
Here are 2 good ways to find the best pediatric dentist for your kid, and provide the best dental health care:
The dentist should not ignore the milk teeth alignment:
I understand that the biggest concern for a parent is the correct alignment of the child’s set of teeth.
I must tell that there’s absolutely no second thought in giving the same importance to a set of milk teeth as to a pair of permanent teeth!
The pediatric dentist should properly assess the milk teeth alignment, and take preventive measures from now itself.
You got to understand, that milk teeth makes way for a fresh pair of strong permanent teeth in the near future. If the jaw structure and alignment is not corrected before the permanent teeth makes the onset, then treatment will become way more difficult later on!
So, assuming that you have got a good dentist for your kid, and the dentist now advises you to take braces for your kid, then you must not hesitate.
We should always remember that most of the oral health problems arise from misalignment! Getting braces for milk teeth might look a bit unethical, but to your relief, these braces will only last for a year or so! This is what we call as Phase 1 treatment.
Once the milk teeth start to fall, the dentist will remove the braces, and make way for all the permanent teeth to come into place. Once the pair of permanent teeth is prominent, your child will again undergo brace treatment. This is now Phase 2!
These braces will probably last longer, and the time will be specified by the dentist!
Hence, a pediatric dentist who does not focus much on orthodontic treatment and alignment correction for milk teeth or primary teeth is definitely not the best one to consult thereafter!
- The dentist should prioritize building good oral habits in your child rather than relying too much on medicines and chemicals:
Good oral habits play a vital role in warding off various dental problems.
So, your pediatric dentist needs to understand what are the oral habits your child is practicing before prescribing medicines for general issues like cavities, plaque, gum bleeds, etc!
Say for example, if you teach your child how to brush properly, and discard all bad habits like thumb sucking, eating too much of sweet confections, not washing the mouth thoroughly after eating food and so on, then most of your child’s dental health problems your kid is experiencing, will go away soon.
Medicines used for treating teeth pain and curing infections mainly covers painkillers and antibiotics, which may not prove to be a safe treatment for your kid. As said earlier we need to always keep in mind that a child’s immune system is pretty weak, and such medicines can cause harm as they have harsh side effects!
Therefore, if you feel anytime that the dentist is not much bothered about good oral habits and straightaway prescribes a big list of medicines, then you can definitely consult some other dental health care expert.
That’s all I had to say about the best ways to identify good pediatric dentists for your kid.
However, that’s not all! Most of the oral health care of your kid depends on you completely. It’s totally up to you to instill good oral habits in your kid.
Remember what you do, your child will follow you! Cause at the end of the day, monkey see monkey do!
