In general, a dentist is the first to have technical contact with a person's teeth and, therefore, their role is very important. Moreover, by dealing with teeth in formation, the pediatric dentist has the necessary knowledge to instruct the family - together with the child - in what are the best means of prevention for future problems.
Pediatric dentistry and your role
The pediatric dentist is the technically and scientifically trained dentist-surgeon who is able to diagnose, prevent, treat and control oral health problems from babies to adolescents, in collaboration with their parents or guardians. In this sense, the most evident attributions of the pediatric dentist can be enumerated in a summarized form:
- Guidance for parents / guardians of young people's oral health
- Raise awareness and teach good dental habits to young people
- To detect possible deviations with repercussion in the dental structures.
- Identify risk factors and develop preventive strategies
- Guide and refer the patient to the appropriate services of specialized dental specialties with the problem to be treated.
Going to the dentist is allowed, and even recommended from the emergence of the child's first teeth. However, in an attempt to spare young children from visiting the dentist's offices and treatments, parents may end up making extremely damaging decisions in the long run.
There are cases in which baby teeth present irregularities and this may mean some indication of future imperfections in the denture. For this reason, a relationship between the pediatric dentist and an orthodontist is often necessary. Contrary to popular belief, despite being the best known orthodontic treatment, the fixed appliance is not necessarily the only way to correct imperfections in childhood. This happens because the formation of bones and dentin is still in progress and can therefore be more easily altered.
Therefore, we see the main reason why pediatric dentistry and orthodontics are related: prevention of possible future problems in children.
Caring for children should be done differently than for adults ; it is usually necessary for the dentist to be a little more playful to leave patients relaxed enough for the procedures. At Dentaltix, you can find toys for pediatric dentistry suitable to use in the smallest patients as positive reinforcements or gifts that work very well as entertainment. This allows children's first experiences to be optimal from an early age, in conjunction with psychological strategies to reassure or calm the most restless patients.
Pediatric dentistry and Orthodontics working together
Both, together with orthopaedics, carry out complementary work to prevent future dental problems by acting in the right way during childhood.
The role of pediatric dentistry begins in the deciduous dentition phase, since, at this time, we identify and correct functional changes such as cross bites and open bites. As a solution, a painless dental wear or addition of dental resin. These are treatment alternatives for children from 2-5 years old.
When an alteration in the occlusion is present, waiting will always be the worst option and, as we will see later, interceptive orthodontics will help the pediatric dentist with the appropriate treatment. Mistaken decision making at this diagnostic stage can complicate and unnecessarily increase the cost of corrective treatment in childhood or adolescence.
The diagnosis of malocclusions is the sole responsibility of the pediatric dentist and involves a thorough clinical examination of the child. In addition, the evaluation of the patient's history, the diagnosis by images and the analysis of diverse models of study help in the elaboration of a good training plan. During the mixed dentition phase, the role of the orthodontist begins to appear more frequently. In cases where the need for treatment is seen when permanent teeth begin to appear, removable appliances are indicated, although the use of fixed appliances from the age of 8 or 9 is increasingly adopted.
Children's orthodontics and its role alongside pediatric dentistry
Orthodontic treatment in young children is known as preventive orthodontics and can be started in children 6 or 7 years of age. At that age, teeth are developing and the jawbone is still growing, so some problems may be easier to treat.
Not necessarily all problems seen by the pediatric dentist should be treated by preventive orthodontics. Two problems that require early intervention are cross-bite and overbite. A cross bite can cause the jaw to grow irregularly. The "protruding teeth" on the bites can be fractured more easily, i.e. the medical team can evaluate them to understand the real severity of the problems and how they will be in the long term.
Alongside preventive orthodontics, interceptive orthodontics also actively acts on the part of pediatric dentistry to correct existing but identified occlusion problems at an early stage in an attempt to avoid incorrect craniofacial development in adults.
Interceptive orthodontics is often the first phase. It cannot prevent the need for other orthodontic treatments in the following years, but it can minimize the complexity of this second phase of treatment. The second phase will begin when all permanent teeth appear between the ages of 12 and 14. The second phase will have a shorter duration, as there will be smaller corrections to be made. In this phase, skeletal development problems are corrected.
Early orthodontic treatment can prevent serious developmental problems and can make treatment shorter and less complicated.
For the orthodontic treatment of children and adolescents it is essential to use the right tools for this. At Dentaltix we have complete and diverse products for Orthodontics.
How to use this in your clinic?
The aim of this article is basically to show that a patient's loyalty can occur from infancy. The work of a pediatric dentist and orthodontists in childhood is crucial for the good dental training of people. More and more parents are aware of this and, therefore, it is extremely important to articulate dental clinics to offer this type of service.
You can't perceive it, but the number of dental clinics specializing in children's treatment is growing every day, and this shows that there is an opportunity and space for clinics to expand their services in that branch.
Therefore, the first step would be to look for trusted professionals and add them to the team. In addition, the patients of the clinic are a good first step for that general care of the family and thus to begin to take care of your patients in a complete way and promoting great satisfaction.
So, do you feel more prepared to take care of your child and adolescent patients? Share with us your work with the spouses of the dental practice, using the hashtag #DentaltixKicks en tus redes sociales. You can also tag us, we would be delighted if you could share your experiences with us.