Pediatric dental care refers to treatments that support a child’s overall dental health and oral hygiene. Pediatric dentists have specialized training in dental care for children and child psychology, and they use those skills to ensure children maintain optimal oral health. They also focus on children’s general attitude towards dental hygiene, inculcating healthy dental attitudes that help them maintain flawless teeth for a lifetime.
Pediatric Care
Nova Children’s Dentistry is a state-of-the-art pediatric dental clinic led by board-certified pediatric dentists and incredibly compassionate dental care staff. We have a proactive approach to dental care, identifying the earliest signs of problems to treat them before they affect your child’s oral health. We also focus on preventative dentistry to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. Please schedule an appointment at our dental offices in Ashburn and South Riding, VA — we’re eager to meet you and your kids!
Dental Checkups
According to the American Dental Association (ADA) and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), you should take your child for their first pediatric dental checkup before their first birthday or soon after their first tooth comes out. After the first visit, you should take your children for regular dental checkups once every 6 months because that’s the only way to ensure they stay on track for perfect dental health.
Regular dental checkups are essential for long-term optimal oral health because it allows us to identify the earliest signs of dental decay, misalignment, and other problems, which, in turn, allows us to treat the problem before it worsens or affects the child’s oral health. With regular dental checkups, we can detect dental caries at an early stage, prevent misalignment issues from worsening, and provide preventative care.
Preventative Dentistry
Pediatric dental care isn’t just about treating dental problems at an early stage. Effective pediatric care prevents dental problems from arising in the first place. However, the only way to prevent dental problems is through extreme vigilance. Your children must be brought to the pediatric dental clinic once every six months for thorough teeth cleaning.
Teeth cleaning isn’t the same as oral hygiene at home. Professional teeth cleaning involves removing months of accumulated food particles, plaque, and tartar from the teeth to restore optimal oral health. Regardless of your and your children’s best efforts, you can’t remove all the food particles with brushing and flossing alone.
Over time, the accumulated food particles invite bacterial activity, leading to the production of acids that corrode the enamel. The acids also produce plaque and tartar, affecting your oral health. Eventually, unchecked bacterial activity leads to cavities. Teeth cleaning is the cornerstone of preventative dentistry because it removes all the plaque and tartar, restoring optimal oral health.
Oral Education
Pediatric dental care includes a component of education. Children must be educated and trained to develop a positive attitude towards dentistry and dental health. Our pediatric dentists have specialized training in child psychology, which allows them to connect with children on a deeper level. They help children absorb positive dental care attitudes that will stay with them for a lifetime, helping them maintain the perfect smile on their own.
Oral education takes numerous forms. The most obvious form of oral education is providing information about the need for regular brushing and instructions on how to brush and floss effectively. However, our dentists also ensure your children don’t fear dental visits but rather look forward to their dental checkups. This attitude ensures that your children will continue going for dental cleanings and checkups when they’re all grown up.
Pediatric Treatments
Pediatric dental care includes a wide range of treatments for dental problems, such as caries, broken teeth, gum disease, misaligned teeth, and other problems. Our pediatric dentists stay abreast of your child’s dental health and developments. We use cutting-edge diagnostic tools to identify dental problems at their earliest stages, i.e., when they’re highly treatable with simple procedures.
Once we identify the root cause of your child’s dental problems, we provide the most effective treatments. Our treatments include dental fillings, crowns, wisdom tooth removal, extractions, and more. Each treatment is personalized and calibrated to address your child’s specific needs and concerns. We also provide orthodontic treatments to address issues related to misalignments, such as overcrowded teeth and an improper bite.
Dental Health Reports
Pediatric dentists follow your child’s dental health through various stages of their childhood and adolescence. If you start seeing the dentist when the child is a toddler, they can monitor the child’s dental health to predict potential dental problems before they arise. Based on their close understanding of your child’s dental health, they construct detailed reports and analyses, which, in turn, helps them keep your child on track for perfect teeth.
