Category: Children’s Dental Care

Dental X-Rays for Children: Why and When to Start?

Dental X-rays are an important tool that provides in depth, two-dimensional pictures of teeth, oral soft tissue, bone, and jaws.  There are four different types of x-rays that are commonly taken for children: 1.  Occlusal X-ray — These are taken for the front teeth on both and upper and lower arch.  They are recommended as […]

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Loose Baby Tooth — Wiggle It Around or Leave It Alone?

Tooth exfoliation is a natural process in a growing child’s mouth where permanent tooth comes in under the primary (baby) tooth and gradually push the tooth out.  Our teeth are anchored into our jaw bones by their roots.  Front teeth usually have only one root while back molar teeth have two or three roots.  As […]

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Safety of Dental X-rays

In a previous post I have described different types of x-rays that we take for children to diagnose potential problems in their oral cavity.  A natural concern that a lot of parents have is the amount of radiation that their children become exposed to as a result of having their x-rays taken. For the average […]

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Practical Guidelines to Flossing for Kids…

When baby teeth first come into the mouth, there are usually gaps and spaces in between all the teeth.  The presence of these gaps allow easy cleansing with a simple small-headed toothbrush.  As babies age, these gaps tend to become smaller and smaller to a point where teeth eventually touch each other.  When the contacts between teeth […]

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Teething Symptoms, Anomalies, and Remedies…

Baby teeth typically start breaking through the gums between 4th and 8th months for a baby.  For some, this process can be very uncomfortable.  Although some older generations believe that teething is associated with fever and diarrhea, modern research has shown that these severe symptoms are unrelated to any dental conditions.  However, local symptoms such as excessive […]

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My Kid Bumped His Tooth…Now What?

I received an email last week from a worried mom whose cute little baby girl bumped her tooth against the crib.  The tooth became a little loose and the gum tissue looked slightly swollen.  She asked me if it was important to bring the baby to the dentist for an evaluation.  My answer of course […]

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When do kids need to start braces?

The American Academy of Orthodontics recommend all children to have an orthodontic screening by the age six.  Typically, this is done by the child’s pediatric dentist.  Most children who have normal skeletal relations (how the upper maxilla and the lower mandible come together) don’t need to start orthodontic treatment (kids braces) until they have all […]

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Sealants and their benefits…

The biting surfaces of our molars (back teeth) are not perfectly smooth and flat.  Instead, there are many grooves and pits on those surfaces.  In children, it is often these areas that are most prone to decay as food, debris, and sticky particles can easily become trapped in the deep spots.  Also, some of these […]

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Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas)

Nitrous oxide is a safe and conservative way to help children feel more at ease in a dental office setting.  It consists of an odorless gas that’s delivered through a silicon nasal hood placed over the child’s nose.  Within minutes the patient may feel giddy and euphoric, some kids feel like they’re flying in the […]

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Enamel Hypoplasia

Enamel (outer layer of tooth) is formed at various developmental periods depending on which tooth.  For baby teeth, enamel is formed in utero and can be affected by anything that occurs to the mother’s physiology during pregnancy.  For permanent teeth, enamel starts forming at birth.  The development of enamel can sometimes be disturbed by infection, […]

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