Pediatric Dentistry
Pediatric Dentistry; is a branch of dentistry covering the treatment of bruises in children’s deciduous (milk) and permanent teeth, trauma treatment, preventive dentistry practices (fluoride applications, fissure sealant applications, oral hygiene education) and preventive and interceptive orthodontic treatments.
Deciduous teeth contain more organic matter than normal teeth, so they are more prone to decay. Children cannot interpret the potential signals, such as heat sensitivity and mild pain, in the early stages of caries. They are likely to recognise caries only when the pain reaches to an intolerable level, which may be too late for the start of the treatment.
Children do not attend oral and dental care as much as adults. The child’s manual dexterity, interest, and the attitude of the parent determine the habit of brushing teeth.
A commonly observed error by mothers would be to cover the pacifier or baby bottle with sugar or jam, or to provide sugar milk or juice along with different intervals of sleep. Thus, the teeth become susceptible to decay due to nutritional irregularities.
A vaccine or drug that could completely prevent caries has not been invented yet. However, some materials can be used to reduce the number of caries; ‘fissure sealer’ being one of them.
Dental caries usually starts forming inside the ‘fissures’, which are found on the chewing faces of molars and small teeth.
With the material mentioned earlier, the fissures are covered to block the leakage of germs, food surpluses, and other substances to prevent the early stages of caries.
This process can also be applied to permanent molars and premolars from 6 years of age. Another way to prevent caries is to increase the resistance of the teeth to decay. This resistance is achieved by applying superficial fluoride to teeth.
The main use of the deciduous teeth is to ensure proper consumption of food for the child. In addition, the development of speech also depends on the presence of deciduous teeth. Also, in cases similar to the image below, serious aesthetic problems can be observed. Should caries in deciduous teeth be treated.