In many ways, children’s dental health care isn’t very different from general care for adults. The focus is mainly on prevention, which includes practicing excellent hygiene and visiting the dentist on a regular basis for routine checkups and cleanings. Yet, for several different reasons, children may sometimes require a little extra protection to keep their teeth clean and healthy. In addition to routine cleanings, we can also provide several preventive treatments to help boost your child’s oral health and strengthen their teeth against concerns like cavities, and more.
Keeping their teeth clean consistently
The most important part of your child’s dental health care is ensuring that their teeth and gums are consistently clean. At home, this means teaching your child the basics of good hygiene as early as possible, including how to properly brush and floss their teeth every day. Until they become experts at hygiene, however, routine visits the dentist can be even more important. During each visit, the dentist or hygienist will carefully clean all traces of plaque and tartar (calcified plaque) from your child’s teeth and gums. We can also offer tips to help make good hygiene lessons more fun and educational at home to further improve your child’s daily routine.
Boosting the strength of their tooth enamel
Consistent teeth cleaning, both at home and at the dentist’s office, is essential to keeping your child’s teeth healthy, but it doesn’t automatically eliminate the threat of harmful oral bacteria. As the building blocks of dental plaque and tartar, certain types of oral bacteria are particularly harmful to healthy tooth structure and oral tissues. For example, those responsible for tooth decay and cavities start by eroding the protective enamel around teeth, leaving the structure underneath it exposed and vulnerable. To help prevent this, we may recommend fluoride treatment to strengthen your child’s tooth enamel. The mineral, fluoride, can bind to the mineral strands of your child’s tooth enamel, making it stronger and more resilient against attacks from harmful oral bacteria.
Shielding their enamel from oral bacteria
Strengthening tooth enamel against oral bacteria is an important measure for protecting your child’s teeth, but in some cases, the enamel may already be weak enough to be at immediate risk. To protect the enamel as your child’s teeth replenishes it, we can sometimes suggest applying biocompatible dental sealants to your child’s teeth. The clear layers of acrylic conform to the shapes of your child’s teeth, creating a shield that blocks oral bacteria from reaching the enamel at all.
Learn more about caring for your child’s teeth
Caring for your child’s teeth may sometimes mean doing a little extra to protect them from things like oral bacteria and cavities. To learn more, schedule an appointment by calling MMC Dental in Houston, TX, today at (713) 926-8896.