Preventive Dental Care

Preventive Dentistry

“Preventive dentistry” means a “healthy smile” for your child, and it begins with your child’s first tooth.

Make sure to schedule your child’s first visit by his/her 1st birthday. 

After evaluating your child’s dental health, the doctor will design a personalized program of home care for your child. This program may include several of our preventative services. By following the designed program, you can help your child form a lifetime of healthy habits.

Oral Hygiene Instructions

Preventive dentistry starts with instructions given to patients and/or parents about proper brushing and flossing techniques.

We provide and reinforce oral hygiene instructions at every follow-up visit.

Tooth Cleaning and Polishing

Tooth cleaning or polishing treatment is a part of your child’s preventive program. We use a special paste to polish teeth and remove any plaque build-up.

Some children’s teeth may require scaling if tartar build-up is present. Tooth cleaning or polishing is recommended twice a year followed by a Fluoride treatment. Children with braces or special needs may require more frequent cleanings as recommended by the doctor.

Fluoride Intake Analysis

It has been scientifically proven that excess amounts of fluoride intake will cause discoloration of permanent teeth, and insufficient fluoride will lead to weakened enamel.

Weak enamel makes the child’s teeth more susceptible to the disease known as caries. In order to assure that our young children are getting just the right amount of fluoride, we provide fluoride intake analysis in our offices.

If you have concerns about fluoride levels in your drinking water, especially if you use a private well, we can discuss your child’s fluoride intake in detail and arrange testing your well water if necessary.

Diet Counseling

It’s typically recommended for children to have a balanced diet that includes the major food groups to promote healthy growth and development. Teeth are equally affected by your child’s diet.

A balanced diet can help teeth grow properly.

In fact, a diet full of carbohydrates, (sugars and sticky starches) is likely to place your child at a higher risk of cavities.

At the initial examination visit and subsequent follow-up visits, we evaluate your child’s diet and make recommendations to help your child’s teeth stay as healthy as possible.

Oral Habits

Some Children suffer from oral habits such as thumb/finger sucking or tongue thrusting. This is quite normal for infants and younger children. However, when prolonged, these kinds of oral habits can cause dental deformities such as bite problems.

After an evaluation and reporting of the child’s dental habits, the doctor may make recommendations. These recommendations may consist of behavior management techniques and/or simple habit appliances for older children.

Orthodontics

Young children may suffer from orthodontic problems such as crossbite, crowding of teeth in the jaw, congenitally missing teeth, extra teeth, among others.

Some of these orthodontic problems need to be addressed at a young age when the child still has some baby teeth as well as some permanent teeth. This is called Phase I orthodontic treatment.

In some cases, if the child responds well to Phase I, later extensive orthodontic treatment can totally be prevented. If major orthodontic problems are not detected or the patient has high caries risk, orthodontic treatment may be postponed until all permanent teeth are present.

At our office, dental growth and development is checked and recorded at every follow-up visit. Proper recommendations and/or orthodontic referrals are made by the doctor after this thorough assessment of dental health and growth of your child.

 

Sealant

Sealant is a resin material similar to the material used for composite/white filling restorations.

The purpose of sealant is to fill in the crevices on the chewing surfaces of the molars to diminish the amount of food buildup and bacteria, and therefore reducing the chances of getting cavities in those areas.

In most instances, no preparation is needed prior to application of a sealant. If your child has a difficult time with taking X-rays or with routine cleaning appointments, the doctor will discuss the recommendations and preparations with you in advance.

The placement of sealants on permanent molars are normally covered by most insurance at 100% as a preventive procedure. Some insurances may place limitations on sealants, just like other procedures. For more information on sealants, please visit www.aapd.org.

Sports Safety

It’s extremely important for children and adults to wear a mouthpiece or mouth guard when involved in any kind of sporting activity.

Wearing a mouthpiece can not only protect the teeth, it can also help reduce any damage on the jaw joints (TMJ) and prevent concussions.

A dental trauma can range from soft tissue bruises to tooth fractures, to avulsed teeth, to jaw fractures, to name a few. Mouthpieces can be purchased from sporting goods stores. Alternatively, they can be custom-made at the dentist office.

Calming The Anxious Child

Dr. Paryavi believes in high quality, comprehensive care.

She also believes that the patient’s comfort during dental visits is of the utmost importance and will help the anxious children feel secure during every visit.

As a pediatric dentist, Dr. Paryavi has extensive training and experience in providing care with behavior management techniques as well as conscious sedation for select patients.

Furthermore, Dr. Paryavi has paid special attention in designing the offices, ensuring that they’re as child-friendly as possible.

The goal is for each child to walk into an environment that is inviting and has a calming atmosphere.

Staff members have been carefully selected to work in our pediatric dental practice because they have calming personalities and because they love children.

Our first visits start with getting acquainted. Child-friendly names for the instruments are used. With younger and more anxious children, we try to make the first visit especially happy as well as short.

We also believe that children should be praised and rewarded with small toys and stickers for their cooperation and good behavior. This in turn encourages positive behavior and cooperation during future visits.

We highly encourage parents to stay with their child during his/her dental treatment to help him/her to feel more secure. To alleviate potential anxiety, we request that parents do not discuss the details of the dental treatment with their children.

The doctor and staff will explain procedures in a child-friendly manner. This doctor-child communication is often enhanced if other siblings remain in the waiting room during procedures.