Radiance Dental Studio

Proper preventative treatment can build the foundation of your child’s future dental health. We can provide you with information and tools to protect your child’s health, save you money, and prevent future dental hassles.

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Children’s Cleanings and Dental Exams

Regular dental cleanings and exams allow us to detect any dental problems that arise.We try to identify conditions as soon as possible because early detection minimizes treatment. Minimizing treatment means fewer visits for your child and less money spent for you.

We begin seeing kids around their first birthday. By getting started early, we have can follow your child's health right from the beginning. Visits for infants can also help them to become accustomed to the sights, sounds, and smells of the dental office.

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Preventative Fluoride Treatments

Fluoride can be beneficial in the prevention of cavities and protection of tooth enamel. While fluoride treatment may not be necessary for every child, the anatomy of your child’s teeth and their history of tooth decay will help us determine whether your child could benefit from this inexpensive and effective preventative tool.

 

How Fluoride Helps

The protective outer layer of teeth, called enamel, is often subject to attacks from acids. These can come directly from acidic foods and beverages, such as sodas and citrus fruits — or sometimes through a middleman: the decay-causing bacteria already in the mouth that create acid from sugar. These bacteria congregate in dental plaque and feed on sugar that is not cleansed from your child's mouth. In metabolizing (breaking down) sugar, the bacteria produce acids that can eat through tooth enamel. This is how cavities are formed. When fluoride is present, it becomes part of the crystalline structure of tooth enamel, hardening it and making it more resistant to acid attack. Fluoride can even help repair small cavities that are already forming.

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Protective Dental Sealants

Dental sealants are a clear plastic coating placed over the grooves of your child’s teeth to prevent decay. Sealants are a fraction of the cost of fillings and can last up to five years. Children with particularly deep grooves in their teeth, a history of decay, or who consume foods containing high acid or sugar levels can benefit from getting sealants. Once sealants wear off, they can be replaced if continued protection is necessary.

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The most likely location for a cavity to develop in your child's mouth is on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth. Run your tongue over this area in your mouth, and you will feel the reason why: These surfaces are not smooth, as other areas of your teeth are. Instead, they are filled with tiny grooves referred to as “pits and fissures,” which trap bacteria and food particles. The bristles on a toothbrush can't always reach all the way into these dark, moist little crevices. This creates the perfect conditions for tooth decay.

What's more, a child's newly erupted permanent teeth are not as resistant to decay as adult teeth are. The hard enamel coating that protects the teeth changes as it ages to become stronger. Fluoride, which is found in toothpaste and some drinking water — and in treatments we use here at the dental office — can strengthen enamel, but, again, it's hard to get fluoride into those pits and fissures on a regular basis. Fortunately, there is a good solution to this problem: dental sealants.

Dental sealants are invisible plastic resin coatings that smooth out the chewing surfaces of the back teeth, making them resistant to decay. A sealed tooth is far less likely to develop a cavity, require more expensive dental treatment later on, or, most importantly, cause your child pain.