Pediatric dentistry examines the oral and dental health of individuals from birth to the end of adolescence(0-15 years). It is the department that applies all protective, preventive and therapeutic methods to these individuals. Within the scope of the work;
-Preventive methods for tooth caries,
– Treatments and restorations of primary and adult teeth,
– Extraction of untreatable teeth,
– To prevent the negativity that may occur in early tooth losses situation with some appliance and to ensure that the tooth alignment is formed properly,
-Teeth eruption and follow-up of teething and prevention of deviations from normal teeth eruption.
-Protective and preventive orthodontic treatment,
-Practices such as diagnosis, treatment and follow up of gum diseases
All of these applications are carried out by pedodontic specialist (Pediatric Dentist) at DT GROUP CLINICS in our clinic specially planned for pediatric patients.
In addition to healthy children, children with special care needs, chronic systemic diseases, people with syndrome, physical and/or mental disabilities also benefit from the examination, treatment and follow-up services of the department of pediatric dentistry.
The first examinations of our patients who apply to our Pediatric Dentistry (Pedodontics) clinic are carried out by the specialist dentist of the department to diagnose and plan treatment. When additional imaging is required for diagnosis, our pediatric patient is directed to panoramic imaging with parents of child patient and radiography is taken as required. After the treatment planning of our patient is completed, an appointment is made for the treatment procedures that are required.
The treatments of our patients who can not adapt to dental treatments due to their young age, physical and/or mental disability, who can not be co-operated, who have syndrome and who come from far away and need many dental treatments at once can be performed at DT GROUP CLINICS or performed under general anesthesia in the patient’s preferred one-day operating room. These treatments are performed by an anesthesiologist and pediatric dentist in operating room conditions.
Our patients whose treatment has been completed are taken to the control program by their pediatric dentist during periods determined according to the caries risk group and special needs. Children’s Dentistry Clinics should be considered as a dental house that should be visited regularly until the child’s growth and development is completed. Regular and long-term visits form the solid basis of oral and dental health that the individual will have lifelong.
Which Age Group Does the Pediatric Dentist Treat?
Children between the ages of 0-15 take place within the working area of the pediatric dentist. The toothless period covers a long period, including the period when the primary teeth begin to erupt, the period when the primary teeth are completed in the mouth, the mixed teething period in which the teeth begin to erupt, and the period when the adult teeth are completed.
When Should Be Made The First Visit To The Pediatric Dentist?
The first dental examination of children should be carried out until the age of 1 year after the first primary tooth is erupted.
What Are The Frequent Mistakes Made In Terms of Tooth Caries In Children’s Nutrition?
Night feeding: The feeding that begins with breastfeeding or bottle feeding in babies continues especially after the 18th month and between sleep at night and the teeth are not cleaned, causing caries in the primary teeth over time.
Dentophobia In Children
Nowadays, the dentophobia is common, especially in children. Therefore, it is wrong to warn children with the word doctor or needle in any mistake. In addition, this fear is more common in children who have never had dental treatment before. However, we can make a special appointment to explain that the procedures that have been carried out do not need to be feared, and we can tell them in a simple way that they can understand the events and prevent their fears.
Why Are Primary Teeth Important?
Milk teeth are extremely important for your child’s healthy growth and development. In addition to chewing, which is necessary for feeding, milk teeth are needed for speech and a beautiful smile. Another task of milk teeth is to maintain the place of adult teeth that will come from the bottom and to ensure that the teeth constantly grow to the right place on the jaws.
What Are the Problems That Can Occur During Dentition In Babies? What Can Be Done To Solve These Problems?
Symptoms such as fever, redness, runny nose, rash and diarrhea are not associated with teething and require an application to a pediatrician, while it is considered normal to see moodiness, irritability, loss of appetite, insomnia and increased saliva flow during teething in infants. Especially painful, red and puffy gums (swelling or bruising in the gums) are a precursor to the teeth coming out. During this period, it will be comforting for the baby to massage the gums with a cooled small spoon, a teether (it should be hard rubber, teethers made of liquid or plastic that can be broken should not prefer) or the finger washed by the mother.
How to Approach Children With Fear of Dentists?
It is known that even adults hesitate before routine dental checks and treatments. Therefore, it is understandable that children find it quite daunting to go to the dentist. Parents can try the following methods to help their children become less nervous about visiting the dentist:
Talk to your child about visiting, explain simply what can happen. You can tell your child that the dentist will “count” their teeth and “take a photo”. Please do not talk to your child about how the dentist frightened you or how bad your last visit was. Do not use words like “needle”, which children may be afraid of. It is useful to talk to your dentist about the concerns your child may have. Take care to work with your dentist to help overcome fear. Do not bribe or take your child to the dentist as punishment.
What Is Early Childhood Teeth Caries?
It is a case of one or more tooth caries and related fillings or losses in a child before the age of six. It is a disease caused by bacteria that placed on it immediately after teeth are erupted and turn the sugar taken with nutrition into acids that cause teeth caries.
It starts as a result of long-term night feeding and not cleaning the teeth adequately, and if precautions are not taken, it is exacerbated by rapid progress.
What Are The Causes Of Early Tooth Caries?
Some bacteria that form acid in the mouth, carbohydrates taken with nutrition and the presence of tooth hard tissues for a certain period of time lead to tooth caries. These bacteria usually pass from mother or caregiver to child after teeth are erupted. In particular, the reasons why the baby consume with a bottle containing sugary drinks before the sleep, breastfeeding on demand at night after 12 months, giving the pacifier by dipping it into sugary foods such as jam and honey in order to calm down the baby and not taking care of tooth brushing are among the reasons. In addition, the inclusion of free sugar-containing foods and beverages in nutrition before the age of two can also lead to severe caries of the teeth.
What Are The Prevalence And Causes Of Tooth Caries In Children?
Although the prevalence of tooth caries in children in our country varies by age and region, it is generally known to be between 80-90%. Improper eating habits and lack of attention to oral hygiene are among the most important reasons.
Does Tooth Caries Get From Mother To Child?
Tooth decay is an infectious disease that can be easily transmitted from mother to child. When children are born, they are born sterile from caries-causing microorganisms. Due to the traditional but incorrect habits of the mother, these microbes can be easily transmitted to the child. For example, habits such as feeding the baby with the spoon that the mother uses to control the temperature of the food, checking the temperature of the food in the bottle orally, taking into the mouth the pacifier that falls to the ground in order to clean it, kissing the baby from the area very close to the mouth cause the caries-causing microorganisms in the mother’s own mouth to pass on to the baby. Since these microorganisms are able to cling to the surface of the tooth, they multiply rapidly with the continuation of the first teeth, forming one of the caries-related causes.
Which Precautions Can Be Taken To Prevent The Tooth Caries In Children?
It is important to consult a pediatric dentist and perform the first examination from the period when the teeth start to erupt until the child is 12 months old. In this first meeting, before the wrong habits develop and tooth caries begin, the pediatric dentist can give the family very useful information about proper nutrition, oral hygiene and dental development.
The most effective preventive method is to give children the habit of brushing teeth at an early age. Starting from the period when the first primary tooth is erupted it is necessary to start brushing the teeth with fluoridated toothpaste, by parents and/or the caregiver.
Parents should pay attention to the feeding habits of children, keeping them away from foods that cause caries, contain free sugar. Instead, more nutritious and non-caries causing foods should be preferred. For example, instead of snacks such as wafers, sugars, chocolates; fruits such as carrots, apples, fibrous vegetables, nuts can be given in snacks.
What Is Fluorid Technic And How Often Should It Be Applied?
It is the application of fluoride compounds with agents such as varnish, gel, solution to the surface of the teeth in order to prevent, slow down or stop tooth caries in children, adolescents and young people. It is ideal to be applied by the dentist in dental unit and within a planned protective program for individual needs. The frequency of application is determined by the dentist according to the risk level of tooth caries of the child. In this way, it can be applied two, three or four times a year. Fluoride applications alone are not enough to prevent tooth caries. It is necessary to carry out many methods such as regulation of nutrition, control of plaque accumulation in the mouth, treatment of existing caries lesions, fissure sealant applications, regular control. The most effective preventive approach is to carry out a program prepared individually by the dentist according to the needs of the child and has continuity.
What Is Fissure Sealant?
On the chewing surfaces of the molars in the back area there are slits, where food can easily hold due to their anatomical structure. Caries usually start with the back teeth, as children are not able to brush their molars easily on a regular basis during the period when they start brushing their teeth.
In order to protect these teeth against caries, fissure sealants are applied, a method that children can accept very easily at any age without removing substances from the tooth.
The materials used in the fissure sealant can be transparent or pure white. These materials, which do not pose any aesthetic problems, can bonding to tooth enamel and remain for 3-5 years. Fissure sealants can protect the chewy surfaces of the teeth from caries in this long term. Since it is a painless procedure, it requires minimal compliance and can be applied without local anesthesia.
Is There An Age Limit In Applications That Prevent Tooth Caries?
Both fissure sealants and local fluoride applications should ideally be carried out within the first 3-4 years following the eruption of teeth. In other words, the eruption of teeth to caries-free teeth in the period after the teeth are applied gives the most effective results.
Which Health Problems Can Untreated Tooth Caries Led To?
Decayed primary teeth are extremely harmful both for the child themself and for the development of adult teeth at the bottom. Infection develops after a while at the roots of untreated decayed primary teeth. This infection can cause permanent developmental staining of the enamel of the teeth developing at the bottom. In addition, decayed primary teeth are a serious source of infection and can be a source of infections that extend to vital organs in the body. For example, the heart, kidneys, joints are organs easily affected by these infections. The quality of life is impaired by the nutrition, sleep pattern, growth, physical and social development of the child who meets tooth caries and consequences at a young age. For all these reasons, decayed primary teeth should not be neglected consideringly that they will fall after a while anyway.
Does Local Anesthesia Applied For The Treatment Of Caries In Milk Teeth Damages the Adult Tooth?
Local anesthesia is an important method for painless dentistry applications. Increases the success of the treatment and the comfort of the patient. The idea of whether anaesthesia of primary tooth damages the adult tooth or if the treatment of the primary teeth damages the adult tooth, is extremely wrong. Since anaesthesia for the treatment of the primary tooth is applied to certain anatomical regions and, like other drugs, is excreted from the body after a while, there is no harm to the permanent tooth that will replaced with primariy teeth.
Should The Cavity Of The Extracted Primary Tooth Be Protected?
It is necessary not to close that cavity because permanent tooth will replace the milk teeth removed from the mouth after a while.
For this purpose, it is necessary to apply appliance called placeholders to the cavities of the extracted primary teeth. Otherwise, the next teeth starts the take place on the cavity of the extracted primary tooth and narrow the place where the permanent tooth will erupt. In this way, treatments that are both too long and high costly may be required to correct the deteriorating dental ordinance. With placeholder appliances that can be applied at a much lower cost, space losses on the jaw area can be easily prevented.
In Which Situations And How Are Dental Prostheses Made In Children?
It is very rare for children to be born completely toothless. However, in some syndromes, complete or partial toothlessness may occur in the form of a symptom of the oral-dental system or independently of diseases. In such cases, dental prostheses should be applied to the child in order to gain functions such as chewing, speech and aesthetics. The prostheses should be renewed periodically by monitoring the growth and development of the child.
When Can Children Start The Using Of Fluoridated Toothpastes?
Fluorid-free toothpastes are inadequate to prevent tooth caries. It is recommended to start the use of fluorid toothpastes made for children and suitable for the age range from the age of 1 year. In addition to the concentration of fluoride in the content of toothpaste, the amount to be used is also important.
When Do Teeth Erupt?
Teeth usually begin to erupt after birth from about 6 months. The time of eruption the first tooth is from 3 to 14 months. If the baby is 1 year old and has not yet had any teeth, parents should consult a pediatric dentist about the dental development of their baby. Towards the end of the 3 years, the child has a total of 20 milk teeth. This period, which lasts until the age of 6 years, is called milk dentition. From the age of 5.5 – 6 years, some milk teeth start to replace by permanent teeth. In addition, large molar teeth constantly begin to erupt from the back areas. This period, which is completed with the fall of all milk teeth, is called mixed dentition. At the age of about 12-13 years, all permanent teeth except wisdom teeth are completed and this period, which will last a lifetime, is called permanent dentition.
