At Somerville Pediatric Dentistry, we take pride in helping your child improve their oral health in every way we can.  We take the time to teach your child about oral hygiene and preventative care in addition to the dental services we provide. By teaching your child how to take care of their mouth, we seek to help to improve your child’s long-term oral health.

When you make an appointment for your child, you can expect us to cover a range of dental services to evaluate your child’s overall oral health. We will inspect their mouth, looking for any signs of tooth decay, gum disease, bite or jaw problems, or other dental needs such as tooth restorations and fluoride treatments. The main goal of dental examinations is to find any problems and address them accordingly, therefore, we are thorough in each exam, making sure to catch any problems and find the best solution in a timely manner. Taking dental x-rays help us to identify any problem areas that the eye might not catch and also help in deciding if your child will need braces later on.

The cleaning portion of your child’s appointment will help us to get rid of built-up plaque, tartar and other stains on your child’s teeth. Having thorough cleanings twice a year will help your child grow strong, healthy teeth as they get older. Even if your child brushes and flosses often, some plaque and tartar build-up is unpreventable but frequent cleaning treatments will take care of this problem. By ridding of plaque and tartar, we will limit the amount of bacteria in your child’s mouth which is essential to their oral hygiene. Scheduling dental exams and cleanings for your child every six months will help your child to have a healthy, happy mouth.

If your child has a problem tooth that needs extra protection, a dental crown is a great option to keep the tooth safe from further damage. A dental crown is a cap made to fit right over a tooth that protects it from outside threats such as decay and plaque build-up. Not only do dental crowns protect from future damage, but they also help restore the tooth’s appearance and strength after it has suffered. Dental crowns completely cover the visible part of the tooth all the way to the gum line to maximize their effectiveness. They’ve been proved to be particularly effective in restoring and protecting children’s teeth because young teeth tend to bounce back from damage when properly treated.

The only way to know if your child needs a dental crown is to see a professional who will both inspect the tooth and take dental x-rays to see what’s going on under the surface. Though it may be too late to restore this tooth to its complete, natural state, a dental crown will restore much of its damage and help the tooth moving forward. In the future, you can help your child prevent the need of a dental crown by preventative care efforts such as brushing, flossing, and scheduling dental cleanings and examinations every six months. If your child has particularly sensitive teeth, you should also consider fluoride treatments and improve their dental habits at home.