Teaching your child healthy oral hygiene habits requires regular trips to the dentist. At your little one’s semiannual visits, we can provide a professional cleaning and examination of their oral structures since their last visit. This meeting provides an opportunity to review their at-home brushing and flossing techniques and answer any questions they have about their smiles. While we promote a preventive attitude toward protecting your child’s teeth, we take swift action when we discover an active threat. If we discover a cavity beginning to form in your little one’s smile, we will suggest removing decaying material right away and placing the appropriate restoration. The health of each tooth is critical to providing a full bite as your child’s jaw grows, and we want each baby tooth to stay in its rightful place until the natural time to fall out. That is why we place dental fillings instead of extracting teeth to handle decay at this age.
At your Shirley, NY, pediatric dentist and orthodontist, we consider our work a blessing. By meeting with young children each day, we help teach them the skills to enjoy a lifetime of healthy smiles. Because kids are still mastering the dexterity required to reach the entire surface of each tooth, we provide additional services to protect against decay such as dental sealants and fluoride treatments. While this can help reduce the likelihood of tooth decay, it is not uncommon for a child to experience a cavity at some point.
When Decay Eats Away At Little Teeth
A child’s primary teeth enjoy the same protective enamel layer that you find in your adult smile. When this material is healthy, it protects the sensitive inner portion of the tooth from hundreds of pounds of bite force. However any injury that compromises the seal of this protective layer can increase a kid’s risk for decay or infection. That is why we ask you to report any event, no matter how minor, that injures your child’s smile. We can take an X-ray to determine if a bond or filling is required to protect the tooth from developing a cavity or infection.
Placing A Dental Filling
Depending on the size and scope of a cavity, we will suggest placing a dental filling or crown to restore its bite and appearance. The majority of cavities, when discovered early in their development, can be addressed with a dental filling. By placing composite resin directly into the hole left by tooth decay, we make the tooth look as good as new. Your little one can enjoy eating and drinking as soon as they leave our office.
Speak With Your Shirley, NY, Orthodontist and Pediatric Dentist About Removing Your Child’s Cavity
To find out more about how we remove cavities and restore your child’s smile, contact Shirley Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry in Shirley, NY, by calling (631) 399-1600.
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