Helping Children Avoid Tooth Decay

You want your children to enjoy bright and healthy smiles, which means ensuring they can maintain good oral health. Our team can provide treatments to prevent the onset of cavities, or to bring relief from the presence of tooth decay. In today’s blog, your Cleveland, TX, dentist talks about helping kids avoid tooth decay.

Cavities and Little Smiles

Children are often very susceptible to the onset of a cavity. They crave sugary foods and drinks, and many have trouble brushing and flossing thoroughly, or could simply forget. Which means these particles from sugar and starch remain trapped on or between the teeth, increasing the risk of tooth decay. Your little ones could eventually develop painful tooth sensitivity or even toothaches. Fortunately, our team knows how to help prevent the onset of cavities, and should a cavity develop, we can offer treatment in only one visit with a lifelike option.

Preventive Treatments

During each checkup appointment, our team will apply a topical fluoride gel to the outside of the teeth. This helps strengthen and remineralize the weakened portions of structure, lowering the risks of tooth decay. For this reason, kids should also use a fluoride toothpaste. Those three and younger need a rice sized amount, everyone else should use a pea sized amount. Our team could also offer dental sealants that protect teeth for years at a time. Kids often have trouble reaching the rear teeth when they brush and floss, so the molars are more likely to develop tooth decay. But our team could place dental sealants, using an acrylic layer to prevent food and drink particles from becoming stuck between the teeth. The application only takes minutes, and they can last as long as ten years in some cases. As they wear away, they will likely cling the longest to the more vulnerable portions of tooth structure.

Dental Fillings

If a tooth develops a cavity, then we could treat it in one sitting. Our team will gently numb the tooth and remove decay from it. We then clean the tooth and apply the metal-free filling material, a composite resin, that we can shade to blend with the tooth. We then shape the tooth as the composite resin cures beneath a light. Finally, we polish it for a brighter appearance. In one visit we can treat cavities and offer beautiful smiles!

If you have any questions about how our team prevents or treats cavities in children’s smiles, then contact our team today to learn more.

Talk To Your Cleveland, TX Dentist About Addressing Cavities in Little Smiles

When possible, we want to help your kids stay cavity-free! For more information on how our team treats cavities, then contact your Cleveland, TX, dentist, Dr. Uhrenholdt, by calling (281) 592-1234.