Going to the Dentist

 

Here are three reasons to take your child for dental check-ups:

- You can find out if the cleaning you do at home is working.

- Your dentist can find problems right away and fix them.

- Your child can learn that going to the dentist helps prevent problems

In most cases, a check-up every 6 months will let your child's dentist catch small problems early.

Your child's first visit to the dentist can be around age 1. The goal is to have your child visit the dentist before there is a problem with his or her teeth.

Your child needs to see the dentist by age 2 or 3, when all the baby teeth have come in. Your dentist may want to take x-rays. They show decay between the teeth. They will also show if teeth are coming in the way they should. Your child's dentist may talk to you about fluoride.

Once your child has permanent molars, your dentist may suggest sealing them to protect them from cavities. A sealant is a kind of plastic that is put on the chewing surface of the molars. The plastic seals the tooth and makes it less likely to trap food and germs.

The dentist says my child needs a filling in a baby tooth. Since the tooth is going to fall out, why bother?

Some primary (or baby) teeth will be in your child's mouth until age 12. The tooth that needs to be fixed may be one of those.

Broken teeth or teeth that are infected can hurt your child's health and the way your child feels about him or herself.

To do a filling, the dentist removes the decay and "fills" the hole with metal, plastic or other material. A filling can be a cheap and easy way to fix a problem that could be painful and cost more later because it stops decay from spreading deeper into the tooth.

If a filling is not done and decay spreads, the tooth may need to be pulled out. If this happens, your child may need a space maintainer to hold space for the permanent tooth. When a baby (or primary) tooth is missing, the teeth on each side may move into the space. They can block the permanent tooth from coming in. To hold the space, your dentist may put a plastic or metal space maintainer on the teeth on each side of the space, to keep the teeth from moving in.