Pediatric dentists are concerned with the dental health of infants to children to teenagers. These dentists are familiar with the different mouth structures of children when compared to adults. These dentists help with the general maintenance of teeth, help prevent tooth decay, monitor oral development, and even provide custom mouth guards for children who are athletically active.
To generally maintain teeth, pediatric dentists clean and polish them. To prevent tooth decay, these dentists help children and adults learn how to make teeth stronger, prevent bacteria from forming, and develop healthy eating habits and proper chewing techniques. The goal is to keep primary teeth in place until they fall out naturally. These teeth help maintain good nutrition, help speech develop, and save space for permanent teeth that will grow in the spaces. These dentists monitor oral development by ensuring teeth and gums are healthy. Oral development is monitored by anticipating dental issues, intervening before these issues become worse, and work towards corrective treatments if so desired.
Corrective treatments can include fixing malocclusion, bruxism, or inserting space maintainers. Malocclusion is when the teeth are misaligned, often referred to as a bad bite. Bruxism is when the patient excessively grinds his or her teeth or excessively clenches his or her jaw. To fix bruxism, pediatric dentists fit patients with mouth guards. Dental space maintainers help keep the space open for adult teeth if the baby teeth have been lost too early. When corrective treatments need to be sedated, nitrous oxide is used. This combination of nitrous and oxide is a well-tolerated sedative, is non-allergenic, and keeps natural reflexes when in use. This form of sedation can help children cooperate more fully, reduce anxiety, or reduce discomfort associated with these dental procedures. Sedation is often used for those who have a high level of anxiety, for those who are young, or those who need extensive treatment.
Pediatric Dentist Kailua, Hawaii help maintain teeth, prevent decay, and monitor development as children age. Aikahi Dental is one such place for Pediatric Dentists in Kailua. The staff at Aikahi are all professionals who are qualified in pediatric dentistry procedures and techniques.
