Pediatric Dentistry

It is important for us here at The QPD to establish a trusting relationship and provide a comfortable environment for ALL of our patients. This starts at an early age! This visit will allow your child to visit a dental office, meet the dental team, and explore the trusty dental tools: Mr. Thirsty, Little Mirror, Tooth Counter, and Miss Water Whistle.

These visits are similar to adult preventative visits and entail of age-appropriate radiographs (sometimes none are necessary), a clinical exam, teeth cleaning and potentially a fluoride treatment. At The QPD, we consider these visits to be ultra important as they will build the foundation for the dental health of your young children, teaching them essential oral hygiene habits and helping forge a positive relationship between them and dentists. We would love to cultivate an “I love going to the dentist” attitude within our neighborhood’s future adults and leaders!

An important part of your child’s dental visit is providing you, the parents, with information about what specific foods are more cavity causing than others. It will surprise you as to the number of foods that seem great for children to consume that are loaded with simple sugars! Once our team has a chat with you, you will think twice about handing your tot a “healthy” snack of freeze-dried fruits. 

Sealants are placed the same for children as they are adults. Placing sealants on the permanent molars when they erupt is a great way to prevent decay in those areas that are hard to reach when brushing. Year after year, dental literature supports the use of these BPA-free sealants as the number one clinical treatment for achieving cavity-free teeth in children. 

A fluoride treatment in the form of a varnish (a sticky coating which minimizes ingestion) will be applied to your child’s teeth at the end of each checkup visit, or more, depending on their cavity risk. Fluoride is a safe and effective way to help your child’s teeth stay strong and cavity-free. We will also discuss optimal fluoride intake from all sources; i.e. fluoridated water, toothpaste and mouth rinsing to help keep your child’s teeth strong while minimizing the risk of fluorosis (white or brown spots) on their developing adult teeth.

SDF is an inexpensive, non-invasive medicament that is applied to decayed teeth to stop the tooth decay from progressing. Sometimes, the SDF treated teeth will need to be restored (with a filling, etc.), in which case, this treatment is just an interim therapy. But in many cases, the use of SDF prevents further growth of cavities, therefore preventing potential discomfort for your child, and buys enough time for the decayed primary tooth to shed.

This state of the art procedure is a needle-free and drill-free dental procedure to get rid of those unsightly spots on your child’s front teeth. You can ask us about it!  A member of our team was plagued by white spots for MANY years and this finally was the magical solution! We will happily go over whether or not your child is a candidate for this treatment, and how to go about it. 

Composite Fillings: This procedure is completed the same in children as in adults. Composite fillings are tooth colored and mercury-free fillings, placed to match the remaining healthy tooth structure.

Traumatic injuries and large cavities into the nerve can be very painful and usually cannot be remedied with just a simple filling. Pulpotomy of a tooth will help maintain the life of the affected tooth and prevents the early loss of that tooth, hence not adversely affecting the eruption of your child’s permanent teeth.

Crowns are placed on primary teeth if they are broken or have large decay where a filling can no longer fully support the tooth. Studies show that the overall success rate of stainless steel crowns is over 97%! The durability of a stainless steel crown is unsurpassed and due to its resistance to the heavy forces of chewing, it is an excellent choice for patients who grind their teeth at bedtime. Stainless steel crowns are also malleable, allowing optimum adaptation to a child’s tooth and therefore resulting in a gentle companion to the surrounding gum tissue. Although they appear as silver, stainless steel crowns do not contain mercury, unlike the silver-colored fillings traditionally used in dentistry.

Common causes of the removal of primary teeth include: decay, trauma or injury, and gum disease.

When a child loses a baby tooth early due to trauma or infection, space loss often occurs resulting in crowding or non-ideal placement of the permanent teeth. To ensure proper growth, we place an appliance to keep the space open for permanent teeth to erupt into place.   

Is your child involved in contact sports or activities that involve flying objects? These mouth guards are a great piece of athletic equipment that protect the teeth and gums from traumatic injury. Wearing a mouthguard can reduce your child’s risk of the premature tooth loss and other dental emergencies.