Preventive dentistry means a "healthy smile" for your child, and it begins with your child's first tooth. Make sure to schedule your child's first visit by his/her 1st birthday. The Dr. will design a personalized program of home care for your child, after evaluating your child's dental health. This program would include all or several of the preventive services. By following the designed program, you can help giving your child a lifetime of healthy habits.[Back to Top]
- Oral hygiene instructions
- Preventive dentistry starts with instructing patients and or parents the proper brushing and flossing techniques. We provide educational tapes and one to one basis instruction sessions.
[Back to Top]
- Tooth cleaning and polishing
- Tooth cleaning or polishing treatments is a part of your child's prevention program. We use a special paste to polish teeth and remove any plaque build-up. On occasion, some of children's teeth might require to be scaled if tartar build-up is evident.
[Back to Top]
- Fluorides
- It has been scientifically proven that excess amounts of fluoride intake will cause discoloration of permanent teeth, and insufficient fluoride would promote weak enamel. Weak enamel is more susceptible to caries.
We would like to make sure that our young children are getting just the right amount of Fluoride. If you have concerns about fluoride levels in your drinking water, especially if you are on a private well, please let us know. We provide fluoride intake analysis in our office.
[Back to Top]
- Diet counseling
- It is normally recommended for children to have a balanced diet that would include major food groups for a healthy growth and development. Teeth are equally affected by the diet. A balanced diet would help teeth to grow properly. In fact, a diet full of carbohydrates, (sugars and starches), would place your child at a risk of having cavities.
At the initial examination visit, we evaluate your child's diet. We would also like to help you in selecting and serving foods that protect your child's dental health. [Back to Top]
- Oral habits
- Some children suffer from oral habits such as thumb sucking or tongue thrusting. These habits can be very normal for infants and younger children. Prolonged oral habits can cause dental deformities such as bite problems. The doctor would evaluate a child with prolonged oral habit. Proper recommendations will be made. These recommendations may consist of behavior management techniques and/or simple habit appliances for older children. [Back to Top]
- Orthodontics
- Occasionally young children may suffer from dental malocclusions including cross-bite, crowding of teeth in the jaw, or other problems. Most of these dental problems are highly treatable at a young age. This is called limited orthodontics in a mixed dentition stage, when some baby teeth as well as permanent teeth are present. In some cases, future complete or extensive orthodontic treatment is totally preventable. [Back to Top]
- Sealant
- With some back teeth (molars), even after brushing and flossing, there might be areas on the chewing surfaces that are not accessible with a toothbrush bristle. That would in turn be an area where the grooves are very deep, and plaque (containing cavity-causing bacteria) can penetrate and place the tooth at risk of cavities.
Sealant is a protective coverage placed by pediatric dentist to reduce the chances of getting cavities on these areas. Sealant is made of resin material that is brushed on the tooth and is hardened by a special dental light.
The type of sealant material we use in our office also releases fluoride to further help in preventing cavities. Sealants can last for years. But special care would make them last even longer. We make sure that the care instructions are thoroughly received with your child. [Back to Top]
- Sports safety
- It is extremely important for our older children and young adults to wear a mouthpiece or a mouth guard when involved in any kind of sports. Unfortunately, when these children experiencing dental trauma, it is often times the permanent tooth that suffers the damage. This type of dental trauma could be prevented or the effects could be lessened by wearing a mouthpiece.
[Back to Top]
Calming Your Anxious Child
Dr. Paryavi as a pediatric dentist has a special training in helping anxious children feel secure during dental treatment. We have tried our best to design our office environment as child friendly as possible. Staff members have specially chosen to work in our pediatric dental practice, because they like kids and have calming personalities.We use different behavior management techniques to help the anxious child to feel more comfortable during his/her dental visit. For example, we use child friendly names for our instruments. Our first visits start with getting acquainted. With younger and more anxious children, we try to make the first visit very happy and short. We believe that children should be praised for their cooperation and good behavior. This in turn would make the children more comfortable and more willing to cooperate for future visits.
We highly encourage our parents to stay with their children during dental treatment. This would help the child to feel more secure and comfortable. To alleviate potential anxiety, please do not discuss the details of the dental treatment with your child. The Dr. and staff would explain procedures in a child friendly manner. This Doctor-child communication is very important to help the child understand the work being done. The communication can often be enhanced if other siblings can stay in the waiting room.
Occasionally, a young child's behavior during treatment requires assertive management. An example would be voice control, speaking calmly but firmly. Some children require other modalities such as sedation in order to receive the needed dental treatment. If such modalities to be used, the Dr. and staff would review detailed information with you in advance.
[Back to Top]
Dental Care for Special Child
Dr. Paryavi as a pediatric dentist has advanced training to manage patients with special needs. Our office is also specially designed to be physically accessible for special patients.
Most special children have special dental needs. Some of these children are more susceptible to gum disease, cavities or trauma. Most of these dental problems are highly preventable. We recommend that you start your child's first dental visit by the first birthday. The doctor would recommend routine preventive visits after a thorough examination.
[Back to Top]
Dental problems can begin early. The earlier the dental visits, the better the chance of preventing these dental problems.
It is generally recommended by American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, to have your child visit the dentist within 6-12 months of the eruption of the first tooth.
A big concern in this age group is "Early Childhood Caries". It is also known as "baby bottle tooth decay" or "nursing Caries". This caries process is due to using bottles at naptime or nursing continuously from the breast. Often times these young children suffer from tooth infections, early loss of baby teeth, some transient speech problems, esthetic problems and so on. The most important problem would be to have the young child having to go through the dental treatment that would have been otherwise prevented.
Wean your baby from the bottle by 12-14 months of age. Make sure that you don't send your child to bed with a bottle containing sugar (milk, juice, sweet tea and so on). Encourage your child to drink from a cup. Start wiping or brushing your child's teeth as they come in. [Back to Top]Moderate to severe "nursing caries"
A tooth colored filling is made of strong plastic material called "composite resin". Tooth colored filling as expected is more attractive. Composite fillings just like any other filling material would last longer if they are kept clean with proper brushing and flossing. But these filling materials are not recommended for large cavities or areas where tooth isolation is difficult. The Dr. will have to evaluate the tooth clinically and with x-rays to make proper recommendations for restoring your child's tooth. [Back to Top]
