Healthier Teeth For Your Children With Gentle Dental Care In Canterbury

Getting kids used to seeing a dentist early is important for their long term oral health

As adults, most of us acknowledge that we need to see our dentist on a regular basis, even if it is some way down our list of favourite things to do. Anxiety about dental visits can start from an early age and is just one of the reasons why children need to be introduced to the dental practice environment from a young age.

With good home tooth care and ongoing supervision, perhaps with early intervention where problems occur, getting your child into the habit of seeing a dentist from a young age can play a major role in them having healthy teeth and gums throughout their adult lives.

Start them young

The general advice is to bring your child to our Canterbury dental clinic from around the time of their first birthday. Although it is very unlikely that any intervention will be needed this soon, it is a good opportunity to learn ways that you can help to look after their young teeth. A visit at this age will also help them to become accustomed to the sights, sounds and smells of a clinical environment. This may well help them to avoid the anxiety that many children feel about seeing a dentist, as they grow older.

Later starters

Some of you may not yet have taken your child to see a dentist yet and they may be a few years older than the recommended one year for a first visit. This can be a problem as your child may have developed some anxieties about going to the dentist by this time. Once they are here, the friendly children’s dentist team at Bradley and Partners Dental and Implant Clinic will make sure that they feel relaxed and we are always happy to talk to them and explain what we do, in a child friendly manner.

Depending on their age, there are a number of things that you can do to help ease their fears. There are many videos available that explain what happens and there are also books that you can read to them before you come. Sometimes the offer of a treat following their visit can work wonders too.

If you happen to be anxious about your own dental visits, do try not to pass this on to your child. If your anxiety is severe, you might wish to ask someone else, such as a close relative, to bring the child instead, to make it more comfortable for them.

Early treatments

One of the most common dental interventions in young children are fillings. Young kids don’t tend to have many bad habits that can be harmful to their teeth, except for one; sugar! Almost without exception, kids will eat as many sugary products as they can possibly get away with. This can be difficult to prevent but sometimes an explanation from a dentist, in a non-scary way of course, explaining what sugar can do to their teeth may help. Any fillings that need to be carried out will, of course, be done as gently as possible.

Keeping an eye on young teeth can also help us to plan for the future and allows us to spot likely problems such as crooked teeth. If this is the case, we can discuss the range of orthodontic treatments that we have available at our Canterbury practice with you.

Baby teeth

A child’s first teeth are sometimes treated as less important as they will eventually be replaced by their adult teeth. This is a mistake. Even though it is true that these first teeth aren’t permanent, problems like tooth decay can be very painful and distressing for a young child. In addition to this, they act as a placeholder before falling out and being replaced by the adult tooth. If the first tooth is lost prematurely, it can sometimes allow the second tooth to erupt crookedly. Please do encourage them to look after their first teeth as well as their adult ones later on.

One point worth making. Despite the apparent amusement of pulling kids’ teeth out that have become loose, in unusual ways, quite often for social media postings; please don’t do this. Pulling a loose tooth out, whether by the old fashioned method of tying a piece of string around it and attaching to a door handle before slamming the door shut, or the more ‘modern’ way of using a drone to achieve the same result, can cause damage to the surrounding gum tissue. In most cases, teeth that are ‘hanging on’ will become detached quite quickly and there is no need to force this. If you are concerned though, please contact us so that we can remove it without causing any damage.

If you have a child that currently doesn’t see a dentist, why not consider us? We think that you will find us to be a child friendly practice and you can make an appointment for your child (or yourself) by calling Bradley and Partners Dental and Implant Clinic on 01227 463529.