Pediatric Dental Issues That A Family Dentist Can Treat

16 January 2019
 Categories: Dentist, Blog

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A family dentist is trained to treat the teeth of people of all ages. If you are the parent of a small child, you may want to allow your youngster to be treated by your dentist instead of by a separate pediatric dentist.

As your child grows, various dental issues may surface. Here are a few pediatric dental problems that a family dentist may treat.

Tongue Tie

Your child's tongue is connected to the floor of their mouth. The bit of tissue that is positioned toward the tip of the tongue and attaches the organ to the oral floor is called the frenulum. In some children, the frenulum is too short to allow the tongue to move about freely. As a result, a child exhibits tongue-tie.

Tongue-tie may prevent the child from nursing properly or speaking clearly. To alleviate the problem, the dentist can snip the frenulum, freeing the tongue's movement. 

Baby Bottle Decay

When a child drinks from a bottle instead of a cup, the contents of the bottle may rest in the mouth for prolonged periods. The teeth are bathed in the bottle's contents, which may include large amounts of sugar. Even healthy liquids, such as milk and juice, contain sugars that can incite tooth decay. 

Many children drink from a bottle to soothe themselves to sleep. The child may actively suck form the bottle and swallow until they fall asleep. However, once the child is asleep, the contents of the bottle pool in the mouth.

The teeth decay as bacteria in the child's oral cavity feed on the sugars in the pooling liquid and release acids as the sugars are digested. The acids, which are byproducts of the bacterial digestive process, dissolve the tooth enamel to cause cavities.

With baby bottle decay, the damage to the child's teeth may be so severe that the teeth appear blackened.

Dental Misalignment

The family dentist can diagnose and treat a pediatric dental misalignment. Many children suffer from crooked teeth due to thumb sucking. As a child sucks their thumb, the pressure from the sucking action may cause the upper palate to narrow and the front teeth to move forward. 

The resulting misalignment can be corrected using braces. Many children are still treated with traditional braces, which include metal brackets, an archwire, and elastic bands. The bands are used to connect the brackets to the archwire.

If your child is experiencing dental issues, schedule a consultation with a family dentist in your local area.