To Keep Your Child’s Teeth Straight – Visit a Pediatric Dentist Early and Often

You should visit a pediatric dentist if you want to keep your child’s teeth healthy and reduce their risk of needing to wear braces later on.

It is fairly common for children to have crooked teeth and require braces in order to straighten them. While common, many parents want to avoid this due to the cost and time associated with correcting teeth.

Fortunately, braces are easier to wear than ever before but there are things that you can do to decrease the risk of your child needing them.

It begins by having a partnership with a pediatric dentist.  We work with parents to keep kids' teeth healthy and strong.  This is the first step because all oral healthcare starts with preventing and eliminating infections.

Regardless of how your child’s teeth look if they are infected they will deteriorate over time and can cause unnecessary discomfort.  As such, we recommend having teeth cleaned at least twice a year so that we can remove plaque and bacteria from their teeth and gums.

If any infections or cavities are discovered, we will want to treat them immediately before the infection spreads to other teeth.

The goal of keeping teeth healthy is twofold.  It is good for your child’s health and comfort, and it also keeps their teeth strong.  Teeth, that have cavities or an infection, will be weaker than they should be.

Weak teeth can break more easily and be knocked out with higher regularity than teeth that are healthy and therefore strong.  We can further strengthen your child’s teeth by preforming a fluoride treatment in our office.

Keeping baby teeth strong, healthy, and in place, is the key to reducing the need for braces.  Baby teeth play a critical role in the development of your child.  They make it possible to speak without problems, eat comfortably and they hold the spot for adult teeth to come in.

Your child's baby teeth are placeholders for the future. They are supposed to stay in place until their adult teeth are ready to come in.  If they fall out too early, it can lead to crooked teeth because the place, that is being held for the adult teeth, will be lost.

The surrounding baby teeth typically shift out of place and start to encroach upon that open spot.  What ends up happening is the adult tooth has to find a new spot to land.

This often leads to them growing in front or behind of other teeth.  Otherwise, they have to grow in sideways in order to have enough room.  The result is a crooked smile that is esthetically unappealing.

By simply keeping your child’s baby teeth healthy, strong, and in place, they can fall out when they are supposed to and the adult teeth can come in immediately afterward.

They will grow into the spot reserved for them and be straighter because of it.  The risk of overcrowding and crooked teeth is greatly reduced as a result.  To learn more, schedule an appointment with our pediatric dentist office today.