Preventive treatments for your child - or how to keep your little one's teeth healthy

Preventive treatments for your child - or how to keep your little one's teeth healthy

On 10 June 201725 June 2024In Paediatric dentistryTags

Taking care of healthy teeth from an early age is incredibly important. Firstly, healthy milk teeth have a very big impact on the permanent dentition. Secondly, you will save your child pain. It's also much cheaper than dental treatment. All you need to do is to take care of your oral hygiene on a daily basis, remember to eat a healthy diet and ensure that your child has regular preventive treatments.

 

Every tooth is important

You should take care of your baby's teeth even before the first one appears. The best way to do this is to rinse your baby's gums with clean water after every feeding. In this way, you prevent the growth of bacteria that can lead to bottle decay.

As soon as the first teeth appear, you should start brushing them every day and be sure to visit the dentist. Regular visits from an early age will allow you to monitor changes in the mouth, as well as the correct eruption of deciduous and permanent teeth.

Why is this important? Deciduous teeth are much less mineralised than permanent teeth. As a result, they are more susceptible to decay, which can easily spread to subsequent teeth. It is also much quicker for bacteria to penetrate into the deeper layers of the tooth, causing pulpitis and severe pain.

Untreated milk teeth may need to be extracted. This, in turn, can result in abnormal eruption of permanent teeth, malocclusion and future lengthy and costly treatment. You can read more about deciduous teeth in our article -. How do you look after milk teeth in children and why is it so important?

Therefore, the best thing to do is prevention. Take care of your oral hygiene, remember to eat a healthy diet (you can read more about this in our article "Anti caries diet for children") and ensure that your child has regular preventive treatments at the dental surgery.

The photograph shows two dentists performing a dental procedure on a patient, who is a little girl. The girl is sitting in a dentist's chair with her mouth open while the dentists, wearing blue gloves, work on her teeth using dental instruments. The scene takes place in a dentist's office.

Teeth sealing

This is a popular and non-invasive preventive treatment for your child, the main aim of which is to protect teeth from decay. The molars are most susceptible to it because they do not have an even surface. This helps them to grind food, but often the cavities and fissures are difficult to clean of food debris and plaque quickly builds up. This in turn leads to the aforementioned tooth decay.

A prophylactic treatment for a child such as varnishing is the protection of molars and premolars by applying a special varnish to them. It prevents the build-up of plaque in the fissures and makes it easier to clean these teeth thoroughly.

Sealing should be carried out as soon as possible after the appearance of your child's first permanent teeth. Do not wait until all the deciduous teeth are gone, by which time it may be too late and decay will have to be removed instead of sealing.

The photograph shows a child's visit to the dentist. We see a little girl sitting in the dentist's chair, high-fiving the dentist wearing safety goggles and a mask. Elements of the dental office equipment are visible in the picture. The scene shows a positive interaction between the doctor and the little patient during a check-up visit.

Preventive treatments for the child - fluoride prophylaxis

Another preventive treatment for your child to keep in mind is fluoride prophylaxis. It involves providing plenty of fluoride to make your little one's teeth more resistant to bacteria and acids.

There are two basic types of fluoride prophylaxis:

  • Exogenous (external) fluoridation - involves the delivery of fluoride preparations directly to the tooth surface; these may include special gels, foams and varnishes, liquids and toothpastes.
  • Endogenous (intrinsic) fluoridation - involves supplying fluoride to the body with food or in the form of fluoride tablets or drops.

However, in the latter case, care must be taken because too much fluoride intake can cause fluorosis. The prophylactic treatment for your child in the dental surgery is completely safe and completely painless. It can be performed on both deciduous and permanent teeth.

Fluoridation also does not cause discolouration, which can happen with preparations taken orally.  

The painting depicts a little girl in a pink sweatshirt sitting in a dentist's chair and a dentist in a blue medical gown and mask leaning over her and presumably showing her the dental instruments. The girl smiles widely while the dentist checks her teeth. The scene takes place in a dental office.

Preventive treatments for your child - start as early as possible

We mentioned that your child should be looked after from the very beginning and that the habit of daily brushing should be developed as soon as the first tooth appears. This is also when it is a good idea to go to the dentist for the first time.

Why?

 When your child visits the dental surgery for the first time as part of a regular check-up, he or she will have the opportunity to get to know the new environment and, more importantly, will not associate it with pain. You will thus be spared future problems with a visit to the dentist.

Therefore, it is best to make an appointment today for your child to adaptation visit in our surgery. During its course we will show your little one the surgery, the dental equipment. He or she will also have the opportunity to meet our staff. This way, you will avoid the fear of another visit.

And if you are already struggling with tears before every dental appointment read our article Fear of the dentist in a child - how to combat it?

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