CHILDREN’S DENTISTRY/ PAEDODONTICS
Paedodontics is the dental treatment of children. You can trust us to try and make your child’s dental visits as magical as possible. We encourage parents to bring their children as from a young age. We pride ourselves on being very child friendly! We love treating kids, and are set up to cater for their needs. We see terrified adult patients that are extremely scared of dentists every day and most of the time it was due to a bad experience as a child. It is therefore our vision to make the dental experience as positive as possible for all the children we see.
Rainbow, our friendly kids’ mascot with his reward box, is there every step of the way to make little souls brave in the happy green chair! We even have a TV screen in the ceiling above the dental chair, so the kids can watch their favourite animations while treatment is done. This is an excellent distraction and also keeps their heads at the correct position for treatment. They watch the TV; we check their teeth, easy-peasy! Some of our kids even bring their own DVDs to watch while we treat them…you’re welcome!
Feel free to scroll through this page and read up on some procedures we offer for kids. You are also welcome to visit our Kids Corner/Tooth Fairy Studio, and read up more on maintaining your child’s oral health.
CHECK-UPS AND CLEANINGS
It is generally recommended that kids see a dentist for the first time by their first birthday, and thereafter for twice-yearly dental check-ups. This way they get introduced to proper dental care habits from a very young age and tend not to be as fearful as when they are introduced at a later stage. Regular 6 monthly dental cleanings, is a good way of introducing a child to the sound and feel of the dentist.
FILLINGS ON PRIMARY / MILK TEETH
Extracting primary/milk teeth for a child is not very difficult, but should only be considered as a last resort. Saving a milk tooth is always preferred to extracting it, since these teeth act s placeholders for their permanent successors.
EXTRACTIONS OF PRIMARY / MILK TEETH
Extracting primary/milk teeth for a child is not very difficult, but should only be considered as a last resort. Saving a milk tooth is always preferred to extracting it, since these teeth act s placeholders for their permanent successors.
FISSURE SEALANTS
Talk to us about using sealants in your school age child! Sealants can protect your children’s back teeth, so that they may never need to have a filling! They are a protective plastic coating, which are applied to the chewing surfaces of teeth at risk of decay. The chewing surfaces of back teeth have small grooves or fissures which often extend right down into the tooth itself. However well the teeth are brushed, these fissures are very difficult to clean thoroughly. Bacteria and food particles stick to them and eventually cause decay. Fissure sealants completely seal off these grooves, preventing any food particles or bacteria from getting in. They do not affect the normal chewing function of teeth.
PULPOTOMY
A pulpotomy is the removal of a portion of the pulp, including the diseased aspect, with the intent of maintaining the vitality of the remaining pulpal tissue by means of a therapeutic dressing. A healthy tooth has a space inside it called the “pulp space” which is filled with soft tissues – nerves, blood vessels, and pink connective tissue. If a tooth gets a large cavity, the bacteria in the decay can damage the pulp, which is often what causes toothache.
MOUTH GUARDS
Every year during the winter sport season, we see injuries to teeth and peri-oral tissues. Most of these cases are in children not
wearing mouthguards or wearing generic/ill-fitting mouthguards. Most to all of these injuries could so easily have been avoided
by simply wearing a properly fitting, custom made mouthguard.
ORTHODONTICS SCREENINGS
We offer orthodontic screenings to assess the possible need for orthodontic treatment. Interceptive orthodontic treatment can be done in ages as early as 5 or 6 years. This type of treatment can prevent further need for comprehensive orthodontic treatment. Any serious or more complex cases are referred to a qualified orthodontist as this is a specialist field that requires a specialist’s attention and approach.