Preventative Care

Proper preventative dental care is crucial for your child and their growing smiles. By practicing good oral hygiene at home and scheduling regular checkups with the dentist, you’ll help your child maintain a healthy and bright smile that can last a lifetime.

At Advanced Pediatric Dentistry, prevention is something we take seriously because we know it’s the most effective way to prevent cavities and dental emergencies. To keep small issues from becoming big problems, we recommend that children see us every 6 months for routine preventative care, where we will provide a professional cleaning and dental exam. We utilize dental X-rays to further evaluate your child’s smile as needed.

In between visits, there are steps you can take at home. Instill good oral habits by encouraging your child at a young age to brush and floss at least twice a day. Eating a nutritional and well-balanced diet that limits sugar intake can also help them achieve optimal oral health.

Abiding by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry our office recommends the use of fluoride toothpaste to inhibit bacterial metabolism and to protect the developing teeth. For children under the age of 3, a smear or rice size (0.1mg of fluoride) amount of fluoride toothpaste is recommended. When children are ages 3-6 the recommendations change to a pea size amount of fluoride toothpaste (0.25mg of fluoride).

We also recommend brushing twice a day for two minutes (2×2) and flossing at least once a day to remove all plaque and prevent cavities from developing.

We recommend the use of mouthwashes as an adjunct only if your child will spit it out after swishing.

We strongly encourage having parents assist in brushing for children under the age of 8 or until they can tie their own shoes.

Brushing Instructions

Flossing Instructions

It can be hard to protect the pitted and grooved surfaces of your child’s teeth when they are still learning how to brush and floss properly. This is especially true when it comes to their back teeth as they are the most susceptible to developing cavities. Dental sealants are designed to help prevent those cavities from forming in the first place.

The procedure for sealants is quick and comfortable for your child. A small, thin layer of resin is applied to the teeth after they have been cleaned. Once the sealant dries and hardens, your child is free to resume their normal daily activities, including eating. Sealants, along with good oral hygiene habits and regular dental checkups will help your child maintain a healthy smile into adulthood.

The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends the use of dental sealants on the surfaces of primary and permanent molars in children and adolescents. It is considered to be an effective treatment for preventing the formation of cavities as well as minimizing their progression.

We offer an alternative treatment option in providing Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) to manage dental cavities. With initial FDA approval in 2014 this serves as a non invasive treatment to arrest dental decay and manage cavities until primary teeth naturally exfoliate. This medicament can be used effectively in infants, toddlers, adolescents and children with special health care needs. Another alternative technique is called the Silver Modified Atraumatic Restorative Technique (SMART) where a material is used to cover a cavity that was treated by SDF.