Oral and dental health during childhood seriously affects future oral and dental health. Therefore, quickly solving the problems that occur during this period and preventing new problems from occurring is of great importance in preventing serious problems in the future.
Dentists who perform all kinds of treatment and preventive dentistry procedures on children and have received special training in this field are called pedodontists (child dentists) and this branch of dentistry is called pedodontics. Pedodontics is basically divided into 2 parts:
1-Treatment of existing problems:It covers all treatments such as filling, root canal treatment, extraction, space maintainer.
Pedodontics A.D. Frequently Asked Questions:
- Question: When should I have my child examined for the first time?
Answer: Children should be taken to the dentist regularly every 6 months, starting from their very young ages (6 months - 1 year old), so that the child can meet this environment and come without fear, and parents should ensure that their children's dental health is maximized. They should learn what they need to do to keep it at the level. In addition, in this way, major problems that are difficult to compensate can be detected and intervened before they occur or grow.
- Question: Is it necessary to fill milk teeth?
Answer: Milk teeth fall out over time and are replaced by permanent teeth. However, some of the milk teeth should be preserved in the mouth until the age of 12-13 because the permanent teeth coming from under these teeth complete their development at this age and are ready to erupt into the mouth. Playing an especially important role in chewing Milk molars change much later than milk incisor teeth. For these reasons, it is of great importance to keep these teeth healthy in the mouth until they fall out. If the presence of caries is detected in the teeth in question, filling them without delay will help these teeth to remain in the mouth until they fall out.
- Question: My child's teeth are decaying very quickly. What can be done to protect your teeth?
Answer: The most important task in preventing tooth decay falls on the family. Regular brushing of teeth and control of eating habits are important duties for the child's parents.
In addition, different preventive practices are applied in our clinic to prevent tooth decay:
1-Hygiene Education
Providing complete oral and dental care is only possible with complete knowledge. Hygiene education, which includes teaching tooth brushing and flossing, reviewing nutritional habits, and explaining the importance of oral and dental health, ensures that there is no missing information. This education is as important for adults as it is for children.
2-Superficial Fluoride Application
Fluoride is a natural mineral that we can get from water or many foods we eat. This mineral, applied by rubbing on the teeth, strengthens the tooth enamel and makes it more resistant to decay.
Superficial fluoride applications are a simple, painless procedure that can be started from the age of 3 and should be repeated every 6 months. It is ideal for the child's first encounter with the dentist and for follow-up visits every 6 months. After this process, which takes a few minutes, the fluoride stored on the surface of your child's teeth will make them much healthier and stronger.
3-Fissure Sealant
The chewing surfaces of the teeth are indented. . These areas are quite narrow and are often the places where decay begins because food gets stuck and cannot be cleaned. In order to prevent the accumulation of food and microorganisms in these areas, these recesses are filled with a special fluid filling called 'fissure sealant'. It is closed with . Thanks to this process, it is possible to protect from chewing surface caries, which constitute approximately 70% of all caries. It is ideal to apply this procedure when the first permanent molars emerge. This is around 6 years old. It is also applied to other molars when they erupt. An important point is that it would be better to have permanent teeth removed shortly after they start erupting (within 1-2 years). It is an absolutely painless and very easy procedure.
Question: What is a space maintainer?
Answer: Sometimes milk teeth are removed for various reasons. (bruise or accident) may be lost earlier than the time of fall. In such cases, until the permanent tooth coming from below is ready and erupts, the adjacent teeth may bend and turn and cover the place that the lost milk tooth should protect for the permanent tooth. In fact, the tooth in the opposite jaw of the gap begins to grow. If development is left to its own devices after early milk tooth extraction, these movements will cause there to be no room left for the future permanent tooth. Thus, the permanent tooth will either not erupt at all or will grow outside its normal location.
Space maintainers are devices made of metal and acrylic that protect the tooth's cavity in order to prevent all these problems. Depending on the number of lost teeth, removable (removable) or fixed (glued) space maintainers can be made.
Question: My child is not examined by the dentist and does not receive treatment. What can be done about this?
Answer: It is normal for young children, especially, to behave incompatibly when they meet the dentist for the first time. In our clinic, special behavioral guidance techniques are used to persuade and comply with dental treatment in children with adaptation problems. However, treatment of children and disabled patients who are determined not to be able to adapt to the treatment sessions can be performed under general anesthesia.
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