Pediatric DentistThe dental health of your children is one of the many things that you feel responsible for as a parent. By providing your kids with the oral health care they need – both by taking them to the dentist and by building good habits at home – you’ll be doing them a favor that can last a lifetime. In this article, we’d like to touch on how sealants and fluoride treatments can help to set your child up for good dental health. You may not know much about this topic at this point, but that’s okay. Feel free to read through this post to get up to speed on the basics and let us know if you have any questions.

Formative Years

Before getting into the specifics of sealants and fluoride treatments1, we’d like to first talk about why it is so important to pay attention to the dental health of your children. There are several key points here, so let’s walk through them in the list below.

  • Establishing good habits. It is important for people of all ages to care for their teeth, but your children are just now establishing the habits they are going to use for years to come. If they learn now that oral health is important, and that they can play an active role in caring for their teeth, it will be easy for them to keep it up in the years ahead.
  • Avoiding early trouble. You don’t want your child to fight an uphill battle with regard to dental health for the rest of his or her life. If poor habits and a lack of dental care lead to issues early on, it may be hard to ever get ‘ahead of the game’. Provide them with a strong start to life in terms of oral health and hopefully, things will continue in a positive direction from there.
  • Kids are…. inconsistent. We love kids at Spokane Dental, but let’s be honest – they can’t always be trusted to keep up with things that adults know are important. It’s not that they don’t mean well, they just don’t look ahead and see things for the big picture. Without oversight, your child may skip brushing his or her teeth at night simply because playing for a little longer sounds like more fun. As the parent, you can help keep them on track with important habits such as this.

Dental treatments are important for oral health, and we’ll talk about those in the next section. But building good habits at home, and focusing on dental health as a part of regular life, is a big part of having success in the long run.

The Power of Sealants

It’s no secret that children can develop cavities. Steering clear of cavities is a great step toward positive dental health and doing so may be a little easier when you opt to use sealants. The idea here is quite simple – a sealant is applied to the surfaces of the back molars which are used for chewing. This is often where small food particles will get stuck, and it’s tough to get all the way back there to clean those surfaces thoroughly when brushing. The sealant is basically going to block the food particles working up into the enamel and decaying the molar.

You can think of a sealant as a layer of insurance against the development of cavities. While it can’t be guaranteed that your child will stay away from cavities once sealant is added, this is certainly a step in the right direction. And, because this is such a quick and easy procedure, you won’t have to feel bad about subjecting your child to any kind of painful or uncomfortable process. To learn more about how we use sealants at Spokane Dental, please contact us right away.

Fluoride Treatments Can Help, As Well

In addition to using sealants to help the dental health of young patients, we can also turn to fluoride treatments. This is another simple process that has the potential to yield impressive results. The goal here is to strengthen the enamel on the child’s teeth, working to prevent decay. The application of the fluoride varnish we use involves nothing more than simply brushing the product onto the teeth and then leaving it in place for a few hours. That’s it. The patient should stay away from eating crunchy food or drinking hot beverages, as that may take away the varnish prematurely, but otherwise, there is very little to think about with this treatment. Dr. Chu a pediatric dentist in Huntington Beach, CA adds that with Fluoride treatments your child's teeth are more protected from decay and fluoride can help stop decay as well.

The Right Care for Your Child

Dental care, no matter what age the patient may be, is never a one-size-fits-all process. It is about caring for the individual and tailoring a plan that is likely to help that individual succeed over the long haul. With that in mind, the best way to get started is to make an appointment for your child so an exam can be performed, and treatment options can be discussed. Whether it is just in terms of relatively simple treatments like fluoride varnish or sealants, or if more complex procedures need to be performed, the team at Spokane Dental will be proud to work with your family.

Of course, as a parent, you want the best for your child in all areas. Any step you can take to improve their chances of positive outcomes in life – whether it is dental health or anything else – you are sure to pursue. In this case, something as simple as sealants and fluoride treatments can help your child or children for years to come. For more information on how sealants and fluoride treatments can help, and to schedule an appointment2, please contact our office during business hours. Thanks for taking the time to visit, and we look forward to serving you!

Resources

  1. https://www.spokanedental.com/Content/Page/Preventive-Dental-Care
  2. https://www.spokanedental.com/Contact