Giving Kids a Better Chance at Preventing Cavities

Posted December 3, 2019

Every parent wants their children to enjoy a lifetime of healthy, cavity-free smiles. However, it takes more than wishful thinking to protect kids smiles, which is why we focus on helping children of all ages proactively prevent cavities from forming with compassionate, high-quality care and conservative dental treatment options. From making good hygiene and education fun to providing personalized treatments for strengthening your child’s teeth, we can help you boost your child’s chances of avoiding ever having to deal with a cavity.

Why do kids get cavities?

Kids get cavities the same way adults do – by allowing oral bacteria to weaken their tooth enamel and infect their healthy tooth structure. The process of enamel erosion occurs every day, as oral bacteria produce acids that attack it and sap the minerals from your teeth. Keeping up with good hygiene on a consistent basis is the most important way to prevent cavities from forming, and children may sometimes need help doing so. Skipping spots of plaque or not paying attention as they brush and floss can make tooth decay and cavity development much more likely.

The most common advice

The best advice for preventing cavities is to help children improve the effectiveness of their hygiene routines to prevent the excess buildup of harmful oral bacteria. It also includes:

• Helping children control their urge to eat too many sweets to avoid overfeeding the bacteria that lead to cavity development.
• Giving your children more water to drink than sugar-rich juices, sodas, and other options that could hasten enamel erosion.
• Getting your child acquainted with visiting the dentist’s office at an early age to make checkup and cleaning appointment easier.

Extra help to prevent cavities

In addition to improved hygiene practices and the tips above, we can also help improve your child’s chances of preventing cavities by offering several preventive-focused treatments. For example, if your child’s tooth enamel has grown weak, we may be able to strengthen it with topical fluoride treatment. The fluoride can bond to the mineral strands of your child’s tooth enamel, fortifying it against attacks from harmful oral bacteria. We can also recommend dental sealants, which are thin layers of biocompatible acrylic that provide a barrier between the chewing surfaces of your child’s teeth and the bacteria that could hide in the crevices.

Help your child prevent cavities

Cavities can affect most children without proper care, which is why helping kids prevent them is an important part of the services we provide. For more information, schedule an appointment by calling Pediatric Dental Care at Casa Linda in Dallas, TX today at 214-321-4880. We proudly serve patients who live around Casa Linda and all surrounding Dallas communities.