You may wonder whether your little ones need dental care. After all, their smiles look immaculate and you make sure to dedicate time to daily dental hygiene – shouldn’t their teeth and gums be clean enough? As a matter of fact, just like for your smile, home prevention is essential but it is simply not enough. The suggestion within children’s dentistry is that you schedule cleanings and checkups once every six months – just like a grownup. Allow us to reinforce what makes professional care so important, so you feel confident about scheduling visits.
Establishing Good Habits Early
One of the main goals of children’s dentistry is cultivating an appreciation for the importance of dental care. By establishing good dental habits early in life, we set the foundation for a lifelong patient who practices excellent dental hygiene, feels comfortable scheduling dental visits, and enjoys a healthy smile for many years. Fortunately, achieving these goals is as simple as:
- Bringing your child in for visits as soon as your little one’s first tooth erupts (or first birthday arrives)
- Maintaining consistent oral hygiene habits at home
Preventing Oral Health Problems
Unfortunately, your child can develop the same oral health problems as you, such as tooth decay and gum disease. The good news is that by providing your child with dental care, we can remove the bacteria-rich plaque that leads to these issues (and that one can only partially address with daily dental hygiene). We will thoroughly remove plaque left behind during home care when we see your child for a cleaning. As for checkups, this portion of a preventive visit allows us to keep a watch on your child’s smile, guiding development and addressing any problems the moment they arise.
