Tooth Fairy is the first exclusive Pediatric Dental Care Centers in the twin cities. Founded in 2010, it caters to various needs of children by specialists (Pediatric Dentists/ Pedodontists).
Children are NOT small adults! They have specific dental needs based on thier age and development. These needs are best understood and met by a Pediatric Dentist who specializes in areas of child psychology, behaviour management and Clinical Pediatric Dentistry. He/She undergoes 3 years of specialty training in addition to 5 years of Dental School.
A Dental Home is a continual dental care guidance center which caters to prevention, treatment and referral care for children. It is more like a “family dentist” for children who serves as a constant guide throughout childhood.
Every child should have a dental home by the age of 12 months.
Treatment of Infected teeth with Pulp Treatment (Root Canal Treatment)
Milk Teeth are very important for several reasons.
1. They help in Chewing food, Pronounciation, Cosmetics
2. They help in guiding the permanent teeth to erupt in a favourble form 3. They help in maintaining space required for the permanent teeth
4. They help in favourable growth and development of mid-face and lower face
Milk Teeth have a specific sequence of eruption and exfoliation. They do not all come at once or shed at once.
Milk teeth which are lost early lead to severe consequences in the permanent dentition; leading to permanent teeth that are not erupted in a straight line. This will worsen the bite pattern and lead to situations where even braces (orhtodontics) at a later age will not be able to regain the ideal bite pattern and teeth position.
Every child must have a Dental Home established by the age of 12 months. A Dental Home is a continual monitoring by a dentist where in the dentist priovides Preventive, Interceptive, Therapeutic and Emergency dental care from Infacny through Adolescence. A dental home is a cointinual relationship of your child and his/her Pediatric Dentist; the dentist sees the child once every six months or more frequently if required and advices the parents on various aspects of childhood such as teething, oral habits, development of teeth jaws, need for braces (orthodontics), prevention of dental diseases and management of emergencies such as fractured teeth/jaws as a result of accident/trauma.
Your child’s teeth are vulnerable to preventable dental diseases like cavities (dental caries). Even when your child is still an infant, you must clean the gum pads (place where future teeth are going to erupt) after every feeding using a soft cloth soaked in lukewarm water. Once the first tooth erupts at the age of 6 – 7 months, use a baby brush and clean the teeth. Do not use any toothpaste during this period. Once all milk teeth (twenty milk teeth) erupt around the age of 30 months, introduce child formula toothpaste (containing less than 500 – 6 ppm of fluoride) and use only a small pea sized tooth paste to brush the teeth. Encourage your child to spit the toothpaste. Once children are old enough to understand that they should not swallow toothpaste, encourage them to brush on theor own, but supervise the brushing. Once childen are 8 – 9 years or older, use sttandard adult strength toothpastes ( >1100 ppm of fluoride).
Right from infancy, introduce children to a routine for their dental care. Use a Knee-to-knee position which involves two caregivers sitting on chairs of equal height facing each other so that their knees contact each other’s forming a cradle where the infant can be positioned. With this position, one caregiver can support and distract the baby while the other can quickly and effectively perform the brushing and dental examination. Once a month, also perform the simple lift-the-lip exercise to check for early cavities which may be starting near the gum-line of the upper teeth.
avities are caused by a three factors; all of which need to interact for a sufficient duration of time
Teeth
Bacteria
Carbohydrates
Simply stated – what is food for us is also the food for bacteria. Therefore, the food that is stuch to our teeth is used bby bacteria which release acid as a waste product. This acid immediately attacks the enamel and removes calcium and Phospherous from teeth. This process when repeated over several days to months results in mineral loss from teeth – A cavity! Once a cavity is established, bacteria can now enter inside the tooth to cause the infetion of the nerves and blood vessels of the tooth (pulp) and lead to pain. If this infection progresses further, it can lead to pus and swelling in the gums!!
A few things differ in children
Their diet is different from adults – Children do not eat a full meal, they eat small quantities of food several times a day. This leads to more frequent acid formation by bacterial action on food.
Milk teeth are ‘softer’ than adult teeth – The thickness of enamel and dentin is less than that in adult teeth in proportion to the pulp szes. Further, the enamel is softer when compared to adult enamel and therefore easier for the bacterial acid to form cavities.
Breast feeding should be weaned off by the age of 12 months. Bottle should be introduced after weaning breaast milk and continued till 18 months of age. After 18 months, bottle feeding should be stopped and a sipper cup should be introduced. The sipper is gradually replaced with a glass by the age the baby turns 2.
