Ensuring that your child visits the dentist on a regular basis is vital to the long term health of their teeth and gums. Along with several other beneficial health benefits, a bright smile helps to boost a child?s confidence. Keeping regular dental care and teeth cleaning appointments will help your child establish a healthy relationship with dental care that they can carry with them throughout their lives. While your child should be flossing daily and brushing their teeth twice a day at home, a professional teeth cleaning by a trained and licensed dental hygienist is the key to keeping that bright and confident smile.
The benefits of regular professional teeth cleanings include:
- The removal of any harmful plaque and unsightly stains
- The reduction of inflammation of the gums, or gingivitis
- The prevention of periodontitis that affects the soft tissue and bone that supports the tooth
- The prevention of painful cavities and unnecessary tooth loss
- A bright smile and fresh breath
How Important Are Teeth Your Child?s Dental Cleanings?
Your child?s teeth cleanings will target the hard to fight plaque and tartar from the surface of their teeth and in their gums. Plaque buildup leads to tooth decay. This is important in even baby teeth. If this harmful plaque is identified and eliminated early and on a regular basis, your child can avoid the painful cavities that it causes. Cavities, which are especially painful in children, require costly procedures to correct the problem. Getting to the plaque early helps to avoid the entire process and reduces the overall cost of your family?s dental care. Harmful gum disease and inflammation can also be warded off with regular dental cleanings. A key cause in tooth loss, the risk for gingivitis can be reduced with regular cleanings beginning in childhood. When your child?s baby teeth are lost early, this leads to problems with spacing as their adult teeth begin to come in. Braces and other dental appliances could be avoided with simple and regular cleanings.
What Happens During a Child?s Teeth Cleaning in Calvary at East Village Dental?
The relationship between your child and their dentist and dental hygienist is very important. Theses dental professionals will be able to follow your child?s oral care journey throughout their lives and take notes of any changes or problems so that they can be addressed. This is why it is important that your child have dental visits, including a teeth cleaning, every six months. Maintaining a regular appointment schedule also helps children who are wary of the dental chair become more comfortable with the process. Before the procedure begins, your child is first greeted and set up in their dental chair.
The Dental Hygienist Exam
Your child?s teeth cleaning visit will begin with a licensed dental hygienist examination to determine the status of their oral health and spot any problems that are beginning to take shape. Using the naked eye and a mirror, the dental hygienist will be able to evaluate your little one?s teeth before performing the cleaning. The dental hygienist will also take this opportunity to provide information, tips and advice in keeping your child?s teeth healthy. If your child has not already been taught to brush properly, this would be the time that this is done. If you should have any questions or need any instructions, this is your time to ask your child?s dental hygienist.
Plaque Removal
The important step of scaling comes right after the dental hygienist exam. With the information gleaned from the exam, your child?s dental hygienist will work to remove any plaque and tartar from their teeth and in their gums that is often missed during regular brushing and flossing at home. Plaque is a sticky substance that is a combination of food and bacteria and is extremely difficult to remove from teeth. It causes teeth to decay and causes cavities and gum disease. Left unattended, it can lead to major problems in your child?s mouth. One important area of focus is between your child?s gum line and the bone, which they could not reach on their own. Their teeth roots are also smoothed out, helping to keep the gums and teeth attached with no open pockets.
Scrub and Polishing
After removing the plaque from your child?s teeth, a gritty toothpaste in a pleasant flavor is used along with a high powered toothbrush to scrub the surface of your child?s teeth, leaving them with a perfectly polished look. This grit found in the toothpaste in this step is essential as it removes the stains that regular brushing and toothpastes cannot. The sound of the toothbrush can be intimidating, so it would be good to let them know ahead of time what will happen. Dental hygienist are used to this reaction and will be able to guide them through this process with your help.
Effective Flossing
After the important scrubbing and polishing of your child?s teeth is complete, the dental hygienist will floss between your child?s teeth, getting into those hard to reach places between them. This is essential if your child does not floss regularly at home. Flossing should begin when your child?s teeth are able to connect to one another, leaving no visible space between.
When food gets caught here, flossing is the only way to eliminate the items from this void. This is the time to let the hygienist know if you or your child need any help with performing this correctly at home. Your dental hygienist is the best resource for flossing and cleaning advice for you and your child. While flossing, the dental hygienist will be able to find any spots in the gum where bleeding occurs. This bleeding is a hallmark of gingivitis. This information can be shared immediately with your child?s dentist so that it can be addressed.
Mouth Rinsing and Fluoride Treatment
Any excess toothpaste or remaining plaque or debris is eliminated with the rinsing step. After rinsing, a fluoride application is applied to protect against bacteria and cavities until your child?s dental visit and cleaning. This cavity fighter is usually tasty and it helps to keep the enamel on your child?s teeth strong and better able to resist the acid involved in tooth decay. The fluoride is applied as a gel and works well to prevent decay in your child?s mouth. This does not need to be rinsed out as it will harden when it mixes with saliva.
Scheduling Your Child?s Next Dental Exam and Teeth Cleaning Appointment
When the entire teeth cleaning is complete, the final step of your child?s teeth cleaning appointment is to set up your child?s next appointment and notate it on your calendar. Keeping these dental visits and dental cleaning appointments are vital to the future oral health of your child and this routine will stick with them for their lifetime.
Contact East Village Dental today for your child?s teeth cleaning in Calgary. With the best in high tech endodontic equipment, the best cleaning can be provided for your child in a pleasant and efficient manner with professionals trained and experienced in providing dental care for your entire family. The East Village Dental family is ready to schedule your child?s appointment and answer any questions you may have.