Four Reasons to Get Teeth Cleaning for Your Child
Your child’s dental health is crucial not only to their teeth and gums but also to overall wellness. Children are more prone to cavities compared to adults. This is because of poor brushing techniques and overconsumption of sweets and other sugary treats.
Brushing and flossing are recommended from infancy. However, you’ll need other preventive measures to help maintain your child’s dental health.
Professional teeth cleaning is one of the recommended measures.
Teeth cleaning is done as part of your child’s routine dental exam. Here are four reasons why you need to visit a pediatric dentist near you for cleaning and assessment.
1. Freshness your breath
Bad breath in children is caused by various factors such as dehydration, eating sticky or smelly foods, and medical conditions. However, the primary cause of halitosis is poor hygiene. When plaques are not removed completely, they begin to buildup. Plaques harbor bacteria, which can cause decay. But more importantly, the plaques can cause bad breath and, at times, gum infection. While brushing can help remove some of the plaques, you’ll still need professional teeth cleaning to remove the ones stuck on the gum line. The dentist also cleans the palate and the tongue, which are known to harbor plaques.
2. Detects decay and gum disease
With professional teeth cleaning and exams, the dentist will detect cavities in the early stages and initiate treatment early. The earlier the treatment is begun, the better the chances of preserving the dental health.
Furthermore, teeth cleaning removes plaques from the gum line. Leaving the plaques there causes them to harden and lead to tartar formation. Tartar is the primary cause of gum disease. Gum inflammation affects the gums and causes them to recede, exposing the teeth. If gum inflammation is left untreated will cause loss of teeth and deterioration of the supporting bone.
3. Brightness your teeth
Although our permanent teeth are not white, they tend to darken and become yellow because of lifestyle and the foods we eat. Consuming beverages like coffee and tea can cause the teeth to darken and also develop stains. Plaque buildup also causes the formation of yellow stains on the teeth. Teeth cleaning removes the buildup and other spots that have formed on the teeth. This brightens your teeth and also reduces the need for teeth whitening procedures.
4. Preserves your dental and overall health
Cavities and gum infections do not have symptoms in the early stages. By the time you develop symptoms, infection is usually in the advanced stages. Bacterial infection can cause the loss of primary or permanent teeth. Primary teeth are placeholders for the permanent ones and also maintain the facial features. Losing the baby teeth can cause the permanent teeth to come out crooked.
The loss of the permanent teeth, on the other hand, causes the supporting bone to deteriorate, thereby weakening the teeth.
Teeth cleaning removes the plaques, prevents decay and gum infection. This, in turn, will preserve your teeth and gums.
How is Teeth Cleaning and Assessment Done?
When you visit our children’s dental clinic in Lancaster, the dentist will begin by doing a comprehensive exam. The dentist will use a small mirror to examine the teeth and gums for signs of decay, gingivitis, and other dental problems.
Next, the dentist will use a scaler to remove the decay and tartar between the teeth and gum line. Your teeth are then brushed with a high-powered electric brush and later flossed.
The teeth are then rinsed to get rid of any debris. The last step involves applying fluoride treatment. Fluoride is used as a shield and protectant to help fight cavities for a couple of months. The dentist will apply a gel, foam, or varnish on the teeth and leave it for the enamel to absorb. It is recommended that you don’t eat for the first 30 minutes to allow the teeth to soak the fluoride.
Routine dental exams and cleaning are recommended twice a year to support the teeth and gums.
Schedule an Appointment
Visit Kid’s First Dental Lancaster for more information about professional dental cleaning and assessment.