Dentistry For Kids
Jacksonville, FL
 Children's dentistry is important to help them start out with a healthy mouth that will head them in a good direction for the rest of their lives. We are experts in preventive dentistry for kids. We encourage you to schedule an appointment for your child at Ortega Dental as soon as their first tooth erupts. This will help them get them used to coming into the office to see us.
If your child’s first experience with the dentist is when they are in pain, it is likely they will associate future visits with pain and fear. This reluctance to see the dentist may well carry on into adulthood and could even lead to a dental phobia - where any visit is a traumatic experience. This is detrimental to oral health as routine preventive measures are not carried out because these patients are too terrified to go to the dentist - and will only visit when pain or discomfort necessitates intervention from an oral health professional.
The importance of making your child accustomed to the dentist is crucial - and it is better that their first appointments be stress-free. Taking them for check-ups and arousing your child’s natural curiosity will ensure they look forward to going to the dentist and see the experience as nothing to be afraid of. The key stages of children’s dental care are:
Baby Teeth
When babies are born, they usually do not have any teeth. However, around the age of six months old, the primary teeth begin to erupt. There are 20 in total and by the age of three, your child should have all of their baby teeth.
When babies first come into this world, they do not yet have any tooth buds until about six months when their teeth start making an appearance, at which point it's important to start brushing their teeth and gums.
Some people think that because these teeth fall out, they don't need to care for them. In reality, these are placeholder teeth that act as a guide for the adult teeth when they start to emerge. If a baby tooth falls out too early, it will create problems as the other teeth will naturally drift to fill any empty spaces. This means that the adult teeth are not guided into the correct positions and could require your child to wear braces when they are older.
Emerging Adult Teeth
Once adult teeth start coming out and emerging from the gums (or when a child is nearing adulthood), specialist treatment may be required like braces or fillings. It's best if your kids get into good habits of going to the dentist at least twice a year so that any issues can be detected before they become major problems that require more extensive treatments later on down the line.
It is a good idea for your child to visit the dentist regularly. This helps catch any issues before they escalate into something more serious and difficult to fix, as well as educate them about potential problems for their oral health. Call 904-752-9522 to find out more about dentistry for kids at Ortega Dental. |
