Articles
What’s a pulpotomy?
A Pulpotomy is a procedure in which damaged or inflamed areas in a baby tooth are removed, allowing the healthy tissue to survive.
It means the baby tooth can stay in place, keeping the space for the permanent tooth to come through.
What’s enamel hypoplasia?
Enamel Hypoplasia is a defect in the tooth enamel (the outer layer of the tooth) that can cause teeth to discolour, lose enamel or develop pits and grooves.
It often makes teeth sensitive or painful.
To prevent the chances of decay, it’s important to brush these teeth carefully and avoid sugary drinks and food.
If my child needs a filling, what will it be made of?
The filling type will depend on the size and location of the cavity, your child’s age and their ability to cooperate during the procedure.
Materials used include tooth-coloured resin and amalgam.
If required your dentist might also use pre-made stainless steel crowns for badly damaged back teeth.
Can child medicines cause tooth decay?
Some medicines have sugar in them and can cause decay if taken for a long time.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information on the sugar content.
Paediatric (Children’s) Dentistry
The specialty of Paediatric Dentistry has been recognised in some countries for more than 50 years.
In other countries, recognition is more recent and in still others, it is non-existent. That is a shame!
Paediatric Dentistry, more than any other specialty in dentistry, focuses on primary prevention for children.
Paediatric Dentistry is an age-oriented specialty. It applies many of the same services to children that are provided to adults. However, it also involves procedures and techniques that are specific to the primary (baby) teeth and to the mixed (baby and permanent teeth) stage of development.
Dental professionals who treat children need a good understanding of growth and development of children. Children are not miniature adults and there are challenges to treating the developing child.
A very important challenge involves teaching children to cope with dental treatment when it is needed. Thus, those treating children require knowledge of child development (speech and language development as well as physical development) and of psychology.
They have to apply this understanding so that children can have positive, relatively pain free experiences if dental treatment is needed.
One of the authors can still recall early traumatic experiences in his childhood during dental visits. This type of experience can influence a child’s oral health in the future.
You are assured that the Beehealthy program provides excellent Paediatric Dental Professionals for your child, and this will pay great dividends in the long term.
Looking after children is fun and there are few things more satisfying to the dental professional who treats children than the child who says to the parent, ‘Oh good. I am going for a dental visit today!’ or the child who says, ‘When I grow up I want to be a dentist (or hygienist or therapist) just like you!’
