PREVENTIVE DENTISTRY
As your family’s Edmond pediatric dental team, Children’s Dentistry of Coffee Creek makes a goal to prevent dental issues before they start. With early intervention and preventive care strategies, we can help your child enjoy a reduced risk for cavities, gum disease, premature tooth loss, and dental emergencies.
Your child’s oral health today impacts the smile they’ll have in adulthood. That’s why our OKC pediatric dentistry team places such a strong emphasis on prevention at a young age.
Comprehensive Dental Exams
Early assessments of your child’s oral development can help pinpoint concerns, prevent major dental issues, and reduce the need for complex treatments as your child grows up. During your child’s dental exam, our pediatric dentist will check for things like:
- Health and integrity of their teeth
- Tooth eruption patterns and orthodontic needs
- Oral cancer
- Gum health
- Lip and tongue mobility
- Oral habits (such as tongue thrusting or thumb sucking)
- Early stage tooth decay
- Infections and abscesses
- Swallowing irregularities
- Possible sleeping disorders
We’ll also meet with parents to discuss specific concerns or findings. If your child requires treatment, we’ll discuss a personalized care plan and the steps necessary. Our goal is to prevent issues before they start by intervening as early as possible.
Dental Cleanings and Oral Hygiene Guidance
Preventive dental cleanings remove bacterial deposits and surface stains across your child’s smile. We are specifically trained to care for young children and will provide a positive experience that caters to your child’s developmental needs.
We’ll also spend time educating your child on healthy oral hygiene habits—like learning to brush and floss properly—and tooth-savvy snacking choices to encourage a lifetime of healthy smiles.
Digital X-rays
Our high-resolution digital imaging equipment allows for faster diagnoses of oral health concerns with 90% less radiation than traditional dental X-rays. These images also make it easier for us to communicate our findings and explain your child’s oral development, as you’ll have a chance to see enlarged images of everything we’re evaluating during their exam.
The types of images we take may vary, depending on your child’s age, bite alignment, and health history.
Fluoride Treatment
Professional fluoride applications help remineralize your child’s tooth enamel to make it more resistant to bacteria and acid. It can also help with tooth sensitivity. When applied to demineralized areas of enamel, fluoride can reverse early-stage tooth decay before a physical cavity develops inside the tooth. We’ll apply the fluoride after your child’s cleaning that wears off over a few hours. Patients can immediately eat or drink!
Protective Sealants
Dental sealants are protective, thin layers of material that prevent plaque and food particles from lodging inside the deep, narrow grooves on the chewing surfaces of back teeth. Sealants also make it easier to clean those surfaces with a toothbrush, significantly reducing the possibility of developing cavities in those spaces. Our Edmond pediatric dentist recommends placing sealants on permanent molars shortly after they erupt (around the ages of 6 and 12, respectively.)
Placing a sealant only takes a few minutes per tooth. No numbing is needed! The thin coating can last for several years.
Plan a Checkup Every Six Months
Routine dental exams and cleanings help your family get ahead of avoidable dental issues like cavities and tooth pain. Reserve your child’s six month checkup with Children's Dentistry of Coffee Creek today.