MAINTAIN YOUR CHILD’S SMILE WITH GENTLE CHECKUPS
Maintaining your child’s beautiful, healthy smile is often as simple as scheduling six-month preventive checkups. We encourage you to begin dental care for your child by the age of one or by the time your son or daughter’s first tooth arrives. The sooner you allow us to monitor your child’s oral health, the greater our ability to guide successful development, while protecting teeth from problems like tooth decay. Contact us today to schedule a visit, so we may join you in helping your child establish a lifetime of excellent dental habits.
About Your Child’s Visit
Infant Oral Exam
We empathize with your child, which is why we strive to offer exceptional comfort and a relaxed environment. We often see children who are under the age of three and recommend kids see a dentist as soon as the initial baby tooth erupts. For your little one’s first visit, we will explain the equipment and give your child time to become acclimated to the new sights and sounds of the dental practice. Once your son or daughter feels relaxed and comfortable, we will proceed with a gentle dental checkup. For infants, we will perform a knee-to-knee lap exam.
We also use the exam as an opportunity to educate parents about the proper methods of brushing teeth and maintaining good oral hygiene for infants and young children.
Dr. Marr will begin with a visual exam. We will comfortably capture high-resolution images of your child’s oral tissues. This permits us to give you a closer look at what we see happening within your child’s mouth. We may also incorporate the use of digital X-rays to monitor the growth and development of your child’s teeth, offering the following benefits:
- Digital X-rays require the use of comfortable sensors placed in your child’s mouth rather than uncomfortable bitewings associated with conventional X-rays
- The X-rays upload quickly to our computer system for near-instant viewing
- Nomad (portable unit) X-rays emit a significantly reduced amount of radiation when compared with conventional X-rays
Gentle Dental Cleaning
Plaque adheres to everyone’s teeth on a daily basis, acting as the leading cause of tooth decay and gum disease. Protecting your child’s oral health relies heavily on maintaining truly clean, plaque-free teeth. Daily brushing and flossing contribute but you will need a dental cleaning for comprehensive plaque removal.
Preventive Pediatric Treatments
Dental Sealants
We recommend dental sealants to protect your child’s back teeth from tooth decay. Back teeth are difficult to reach and full of fissures that provide exceptional hiding places for bacteria and food particles. By painting a clear coating of plastic over the chewing surfaces of your child’s molars, we create physical barriers that protect teeth from plaque adhesion and subsequent cavity formation. Sealants are visually undetectable and may last for up to five to 10 years.
Fluoride Treatments
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral commonly found in toothpaste and drinking water. The mineral may re-mineralize softening areas of enamel to reverse the early development of tooth decay. We suggest comfortable fluoride treatments for your child to promote the growth of strong, healthy, cavity-free teeth.
