Do you need to find the best children’s dentist in Hilton? Come and try Family Dental Care. We have branches all over Durban, with our Hilton rooms being situated at the Quarry Shopping Centre for your convenience. At Family Dental Care, our focus is on the oral health of the entire family and because kids have different needs than that of adults, our dentists have paediatric training too. Our rooms are kid friendly with televisions and toys bringing focus away from the impending consult. Our children’s dentist in Hilton does not clamp forward with the consult immediately but spends a fair bit of time engaging with the child and explaining the importance of healthy teeth to them.

Caring for Children’s Teeth

It can be a bit intimidating to have to stick a toothbrush into your baby’s mouth and start brushing. Reading the theory does not start to compare to actually having to do it. If this is a concern to you, then allow our children’s dentist in Hilton to show you the ropes. This can be done at the baby’s first dental appointment. Brushes and toothpaste made for babies should be used and this should be done every day. This should be complemented with twice yearly dental visits to our children’s dentist in Hilton. Bringing in your child as a baby allows them to get acquainted with our dentist early on and not fear future dental visits. It is not just the current state of the mouth that our paediatric dentist worries about but also any future concerns that may pop up.

Thumb sucking for instance is normal but when a child is past the 3 year mark and is still doing this, our children’s dentist in Hilton will be able to advise accordingly as continuous thumb sucking can interfere with teeth alignment and some teeth may grow out crooked. Our children’s dentists in Hilton concern themselves with your child’s oral development. This foresight of using items like space maintainers means there is less of a chance of your child requiring teeth straightening later on. If this is needed, then visit our Hilton rooms for the latest in teeth straightening technology. Our clear and thin plastic aligners are able to straighten teeth without looking too conspicuous in the mouth, perfect for teens. Our childrens dentist also provides sports guards. Our sports guards are custom made for each child so that each one has a unique and accurate fit. They are used when playing sports and their purpose is to protect the mouth from injury and teeth from being hit.

Treatments offered by our Children’s Dentist in Hilton

Our dentist offers a wide variety of treatments. We do, after all cater to all age ranges, but the following are specific to children’s needs.

Preventative– keeping to a daily home brushing routine and visiting our children’s dentist in Hilton twice a year is a sure-fire way to keep teeth healthy and free of decay. Children should be brought in for their first visit when a few teeth have erupted. This way, our dentist will impart the correct process for a home routine. This should be kept up every six months. Within this time period, our childrens dentist is able to remove plaque and tartar build-up easily without having to drill into the teeth to have it removed. A good home brushing routine is a good basic start to maintaining healthy white teeth. To supplement this, preventative treatments are suggested. This way our dentists can do a full scale check of the mouth and advise if there are any areas that are maybe not being paid as much attention. They can even do a fluoride treatment to help prevent this build-up in the first place.

Restorative– if your kids have not been visiting the dentist as regularly as they should then they may develop cavities. This decayed portion of the tooth can cause sensitivity and will continue to rot away. The tooth, thankfully, can be restored by our children’s dentist in Hilton. The decay will be drilled out and then filled with a dental filling paste. It is hardened to the same degree of the tooth and then shaped and polished. It will look just like a normal tooth as the composite filling used by our dentists are individually mixed for each patient to match their tooth colour. Fillings can also be used to fix a tooth which has cracked or if a portion has been chipped off.

Dental sealant– another preventative measure to cavities is a sealant. It is a coating of a thin layer of plastic over the top of molars. Generally, this area is prone to cavities because food particles can easily become stuck in the tiny grooves, especially since these teeth are responsible for chewing food. A dental sealant allows for this to no longer be a problem.

Pain blockers– our children’s dentist in Hilton offers 3 types of pain blockers. For preventative care, this is not really needed as the clean and polish is not really painful. However for other treatments such as removing a tooth or when doing fillings, this is required. Most often, our dentist will go with a local anaesthetic injection. This will numb out the area and the dentist can carry out any work without it hurting the child. Sometimes, this is not enough. If it is an older child’s first visit to the dentist then they would probably be nervous and this can translate to a restless energy in the chair. This will prove difficult for our childrens dentist to then be able to carry out work which is when a conscious sedation will be recommended. With this approach, outside help in the form of an anaesthesiologist will be brought in to put the child in a deep state of calmness along with blocking out any pain. It is important to note that with this option, the child is not knocked out completely.