The dental care kids receive during childhood is extremely important to their lifelong oral health. There are many methods that can be used to help prevent tooth decay in your children early on that will give them the best chance at healthy smiles as they grow up.
Regular Cleanings & Checkups at the Dentist’s Office
Visiting the dentist regularly starting at an young age helps not only to maintain the health of your child’s primary teeth, it also make it possible for a dentist to monitor your child’s adult teeth as they emerge.
Regular cleanings at a dental clinic help keep teeth cavity free, because a Langley children's dentist or dental hygienist can clean teeth using tools and techniques not available at home.
Fluoride
Fluoride is a mineral found in water (fresh & salt), soil, and some foods. Fluoride strengthens teeth and helps make them more decay-resistant. It can also help reverse tooth decay that has already begun.
The pediatric dentist may recommend fluoride toothpastes or rinses, or fluoride treatments during dental checkups, depending on the level of your children’s fluoride intake from food and water.
Sealants
Dental Sealant is a thin plaster material that is painted onto the chewing surfaces of teeth (most often the molars) in order to prevent tooth decay. Sealant bonds to any grooves and depressions in the teeth, and forms a protective seal.
Sealants provide extra protection for grooves and depressions that can be difficult to clean with just brushing and flossing.
At-Home Oral Hygiene
Brushing and flossing habits are best started as young as possible. In fact, if parents brush and floss their children's teeth when they’re too young to do it themselves, it helps get them accustomed to regular at-home oral care.
Teaching your kids how to brush and floss carefully and thoroughly, and establishing these habits early, will help them to avoid tooth decay now, and as they get older
Early Preventative Orthodontics
Misaligned teeth can cause a great deal of damage. They can chip and break more easily, and they can be much more difficult to clean than properly aligned teeth.
Dentists typically recommend that children are evaluated by an orthodontist at no later than the age of 7, to establish whether orthodontic intervention might be needed. Having your child evaluated when he or she is young helps lessen, or even completely avoid, the need for more extensive, expensive orthodontic treatment later on.
Early orthodontic treatment will help keep your child’s teeth as free from decay as possible as he or she grows up.