Are you looking in particular for a children’s dentist in Durban?

Our paediatric dentist is available weekdays and Saturdays for all babies, toddlers and teens teething needs. This age group needs a more specialized oral health care doctor because their teeth are still in the developing stages. Our dentists training consisted not only of the educational, but the emotional factor as well. Dental visits can be quite traumatic for many kids, with having your mouth open, with the light shining in your eyes and not really being able to see what the dentist is getting up to in the mouth. It is the dentist’s job, to therefore put the child at ease and this is where our children’s dentist in Durban shines. Our rooms have been designed to not look clinical and instead invoke a sense of calm. Toys and televisions are further used to help wind down nervous kiddies.

Children’s Teeth

Tackling children’s teeth is different because it is not just about the here and now. This is the age where proper oral care is learned and practiced which is then carried on throughout their lives. Children will also require healthy milk teeth for chewing and speech purposes. It is therefore in the child’s best interest to keep them healthy for as long as possible. They should not be ignored, just because they will fall off anyway. Home brushing needs to be done right from the time the first tooth is out. Trips to our children’s dentist in Durban should start as early as when the first tooth comes out. This will acclimate the child with our dentist and form a relationship, so therefore when the child is older, dentist visits are just a normal routine. Children who visit the dentist for the first time later on in life will likely keep the fear of the dentist’s chair for a little while before becoming used to it. Dentists will ensure teeth are on the healthy track. As much as hygiene is a factor in keeping teeth intact, sometimes injury does occur. This is escalated during contact sports. Sports guards are recommended to protect teeth in these instances. Our children’s dentist in Durban custom makes sports guards to have an exact fit in the mouth. This makes them easier for children to insert, and won’t be a side-line bother of being ill fitting. On the dentists end, plans need to be made to ensure that teeth grow out as straight as possible. There are 2 things in particular that could hinder this. The first is when a child is little. Prolonged sucking of the thumb can cause this at this stage. The second is when the primary teeth start falling out. When a primary tooth falls out early, this empty space it has left behind can be taken up a bit by adjacent teeth. When it is time for that particular permanent tooth to make its way out, there is not enough of space for it to grow where it was supposed to, so it ends up in a crooked position. To fix this would require braces. Our children’s dentist in Durban will place in a space maintainer to keep the space open until such time that the permanent tooth erupts.

Our Treatments for Children

• Check-ups- dental check-ups are needed twice a year so that our children’s dentist in Durban is able to deduce that development is on track and that all areas of the mouth are healthy, and this includes the teeth, gums, inner cheeks and tongue. At the check-up, our children’s dentist will also do a deep scale clean and polish to remove any plaque build-up in hard to reach areas of the mouth. A more intense clean will be required if the twice yearly routine is not adhered to and the plaque has developed into tartar. There is a small window between uncleaned food particles turning to plaque and then to tartar. If the tartar is not removed in time then it will start to decay the tooth.
• Dental fillings- once decay has formed on a tooth- the only way forward is to have it removed or to go with a dental filling. Once the rotted portion of the tooth is removed, the dental filling will fill out the space so that an unsightly hole is not left behind. Fillings are also used to repair chipped and cracked teeth. Our children’s dentist in Durban only uses the composite filling which gives a finish that is near perfect to a natural tooth
• Fluoride treatments help prevent plaque from building up on the tooth. They can be done during check-ups.
• Dental sealants – a sealant is a plastic coating which will prevent food particles from getting embedded in the tiny grooves found in molars. When this no longer happens, the tooth will be protected from cavities. They are recommended to kids who are prone to cavities by our children’s dentist in Durban.
• Tooth extractions- a tooth may need to be extracted by our children’s dentist in Durban if there is simply too much of decay or to make way for the permanent tooth.

How we Manage the Pain?

Some of our treatments will require some form of pain blocker. Usually, this is taken care of with an injected local anaesthetic. The area is numbed out completely so the child will not feel any of the sensitivity involved with drilling out decay or even feel it when a tooth is being pulled out. Conscious sedation is also sometimes used in our rooms where an anaesthesiologist comes in. Although an option used for surgical dentistry, it is sometimes required if a child is very uneasy. Sudden movements in the chair will make the dentists job difficult and take much longer to complete. This will ensure the child is both relaxed and pain free.