It is the branch of science that examines the problems that arise in the mouth, teeth and surrounding tissues of children between the ages of 0-13, caries prevention methods, dental treatments and the materials used in these treatments.
What treatments does pedodontics apply?
- Protective applications
- Dental care education in children
- Dental cleaning
- Placeholders
- Fissure sealant applications
- Fluoride applications
- Special treatments for children
- Cavities treatments
- Fracture treatments
- Treatments for dislocation or complete removal of the tooth
- Tooth extraction treatments
When do milk teeth start to come in?
Milk teeth begin to come out at an average of 6-8 months from birth and are located in the lower and upper jaw, 20 of which are around 2.5 years old (30 months of age). As a result of the development of permanent teeth under the milk teeth in the anterior region around the age of 6-7, the roots of the milk teeth begin to melt and after a while, the milk teeth fall out or are pulled out. All of the milk teeth are changed at the age of 12
When should you first start brushing your teeth?
Oral care should begin when the baby is 6-8 months old (that is, when the first teeth appear in the mouth). It is recommended to clean the teeth in the morning after breakfast and at night before going to bed by wetting a clean cheesecloth or bandage. The use of toothbrushes is recommended to start with the removal of the child’s back milk molars (about 2.5-3 years old).
When should be the first visit to the dentist?
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Pediatric Dental Association recommend that the first dental examination be performed after the first tooth comes out (usually between 6 months and 1 year of age).
What to do at the first visit to the children’s dentist?
The purpose of pedodontists in the first dental examination; To look at all the teeth of the child with the help of a mirror and light and to share the existing problems and treatment alternatives with the family, and most importantly, to inform the parents about nutrition and protective practices. Your child will be told about all the hand tools used to do these procedures, shown what they are for, and they may be allowed to use some of the tools. This approach of pedodontists tries to break the phobia of dentists.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MILK TEETH
Milk teeth may not be ignored by some parents because they are not teeth that remain in the mouth for a lifetime. However, it is very important that milk teeth are healthy in the mouth.
Because, the period when the milk teeth are in the mouth is the period when the growth and development of the child is most active.
Milk teeth form the first step of the digestive system with cutting and grinding functions in this period.
A child with caries in the milk teeth has a decrease in eating and drinking due to pain. This affects nutrition and subsequent growth.
Milk teeth are natural placeholders that protect the place of the permanent teeth coming from below in the mouth. If the milk tooth is extracted early due to caries and the placeholder treatment is not performed, the teeth in front and behind the extracted tooth are displaced towards the extraction cavity. Permanent teeth may not be able to erupt or crowding may occur.
During the period when the milk teeth are in the mouth, the child’s speech function also begins to develop. Milk teeth also play a role in making sounds correctly. An example of this is when a child who loses his front teeth prematurely hisses out the “S” sound.
Especially children with decayed or missing front teeth may experience psychological problems because they have a different appearance from their peers.
HOW SHOULD WE PREPARE FOR THE FIRST DENTAL EXAMINATION?
What should not be done before the treatment is more important than what to do.
Activities such as watching videos, animations, etc. about the dentist examination, reading books, playing tooth counting games with toys at home will help in the preparation stage.
Parents should avoid behaviors that will reflect their own concerns to children and should not share their negative experiences with children. On the contrary, they should show a motivating attitude, but they should be aware that a tooth in need of treatment may not always be solved at the first appointment and should not be oppressive on the child.
Parents should not threaten children with “taking them to the dentist” or “getting injections” as a scare. This type of behavior unfortunately increases prejudice and anxiety
Before treatment, do not say to your child things like “don’t be afraid, it won’t hurt at all.” Such sentences can give rise to the idea that children may feel pity subconsciously.
It’s better not to tell your child about your past experiences in the dentist’s chair, good or bad.
To your child; If he does not go to the doctor, do not say scary sentences such as that his teeth will decay more and that he may have to be injected and pulled out. Because all these procedures that you are afraid of may be treatments that your child may need one day.
And don’t promise your child that the dentist will do nothing but take care of their teeth. Let your child and their doctor decide together what to do for the first appointment.
Children who have their dental treatments done very harmoniously can be very maladaptive when they are tired and bored. This may also negatively affect their subsequent appointments. Therefore, do not insist that your children and your doctor be given more procedures.
When your child is being treated, ask him, “Does it hurt? Are you tired?”
BOTTLE ROOT
Children start with solid supplementary food from the age of 6 years. At the same time, milk yield is carried out with a bottle. Some parents add honey or molasses to milk to increase its nutrition. In addition, babies are given milk with a bottle before going to sleep, thinking that they can sleep more comfortably. The milk given by the bottle will remain on the tooth layer before going to sleep at night. Since saliva secretion decreases, teeth are not cleaned and caries formation accelerates. Cavities caused by night feeding will cause decay in the teeth that will come out of the new. These caries are first seen in the teeth in the upper jaw and then in the other teeth. In addition to the milk given, fruit juices given with a bottle, soaking pacifiers in honey or sugar and giving them also accelerate the formation of caries.
Can bottle caries be treated?
Bottle rot is, of course, treated. Highly effective and advanced treatments are possible. But in extremely advanced cases, these bruises can become difficult to treat. The most important point in the initiation of these treatments is that families notice them early and the examinations are not interrupted.
What can be done to prevent bottle decay?
Babies should be prevented from sleeping with a bottle. Along with the bottle, the administration of sugary foods together with the false udder should be discontinued. You can wipe the teeth with the help of a slightly damp cloth after feeding. After 1 year of age, children should be taken to a pedodontist regularly.
What are the precautions to be taken in tooth decay in children?
There is still no drug available today to prevent the bruise from healing on its own or not. But with preventive measures, it is possible to reduce the formation of caries and increase the resistance of teeth to caries. At the beginning of these methods is the process of covering the teeth made with the material we call “fissure sealant”. Dental caries usually starts in the grooves called “fissures” on the chewing faces of the molars and small molars. With the material we are talking about, the grooves are covered and the infiltration of substances such as bacteria and food residues into that area is prevented and the start of caries is prevented. This procedure is applied to milk and permanent teeth. Another way to prevent caries is to increase the resistance of teeth to caries. This process can be done with topical fluoride application; Flouride strengthens the teeth and increases the resistance of the teeth to caries.
What is Fissure Sealant?
It is the process of filling these recesses and grooves, which we call fissure, with a gel-like material and hardening with a special light. It is a kind of filling. It passes as a preventive treatment.
Which teeth can be done?
It can be applied to milk molars, permanent premolars and molars.
Is it a difficult treatment? What is its tolerability by children?
Pain is a fairly easy treatment as it is not painful and often not even mechanically abraded from the teeth. Processing time is short. It can be applied very easily even to small children.
Fluoride Applications
Fluoride is an element that prevents tooth decay and strengthens the structure of teeth. Fluoride is found in toothpastes as well as in some nutrients. However, because children often neglect to brush their teeth, they do not get enough fluoride for their teeth to gain resistance against caries. In order to prevent this situation, “superficial fluoride” applications are made.
Superficial fluoride application is especially applied to children whose teeth are prone to decay. In this way, a sufficient amount of fluoride is deposited on the teeth and the structure of the teeth is strengthened, providing resistance against caries.
Is Fluoride application safe?
Fluoride application in practice conditions and regularly is completely safe and its protection has been scientifically proven.
How long is fluor gel application effective?
Fluor gel application is effective for 3 to 6 months, depending on the caries risk group your child has. At the end of these periods, it must be repeated. Thus, after a certain period of time, the necessary amount of fluorine will be stored in each new tooth group.
How long does the fluor application take?
Fluor application is a very simple preventive treatment that takes about 5 minutes.
What should be considered after fluor gel application?
No eating or drinking for 1 hour after the application. Milk and dairy products are not consumed for 24 hours. Brushing is not done on the day of application.
What happens if dairy products are consumed?
The effect of the application is weakened. It will not harm your child.
My Child’s Teeth Are Colored!
Nowadays, due to the increasing visual perception in children and adolescents, it can sometimes cause negative effects on their psychology, lack of self-confidence and isolation from the social environment. Colorations can be seen in brown – black, yellow – orange, or green – gray colors. A pediatric dentistry specialist should be consulted as soon as possible to determine the cause of these discolorations, which can be mistaken for caries from time to time, and to take the necessary precautions.
What causes discoloration on teeth?
Although there can be many causes of coloration, the most common causes are; Inadequate oral hygiene, the use of iron drugs and the increase of some color-giving bacteria in the mouth.
How can I take precautions?
First of all, the child’s oral hygiene should be ensured in the best way. In the control examinations, detailed information on how to do oral care according to age will be given.
In order to prevent bacterial transmission from parents or siblings, common items should not be used in eating and drinking, and attention should be paid to the hygiene of the pacifier or bottle. Habits such as kissing the child on the lips will also cause the contamination of these coloring-causing bacteria.
In order to prevent the discoloration caused by iron preparations from reoccurring, water should be drunk or mouth rinsed immediately after the drug is administered, and then the teeth should be brushed. You can talk to your doctor to see if it is possible to change the drug.
Treatment
Polishing and cleaning of these teeth can be done by the dentist, but it should not be forgotten that these teeth can be colored again.
Tooth Fracture
Tooth fractures in children are one of the most common dental traumas, especially in the summer months.
What should families do?
In such a case, the first thing parents should do is to check the general condition of the child and whether there is any other injury in the head area without panicking. If any, foreign bodies should be removed from the trauma area, if there is bleeding, it is to control the bleeding, albeit partially, by applying a light tampon to that area with a clean gauze pad. Then the broken tooth fragment should be found. This part may be removed from the oral environment or may be embedded in soft tissues such as the lips. The broken tooth piece should be found and put into the milk, and the dentist should be visited as soon as possible.
Dentist approach and broken tooth treatment
After the examination, the dentist performs the restoration of the tooth, if possible, by gluing the broken tooth piece to its original place, and if it is not possible or if the broken piece is not found, by using dental materials, the related tooth is treated. If the fracture line has extended to the nerve tissue of the tooth, further treatments such as root canal treatment can be performed. After the treatment, the dentist monitors the related tooth at regular intervals with clinical and radiographic examinations.