Children
We have many years of treating children here at Beaches Dental Mona Vale – some of child patients have now grown up and are even bringing their own children. Our aim is to make a visit to the dentist a relaxed experience where children are not afraid of coming and are confident and happy to get their teeth treated.
Regular visits are important for children as it allows us to not only monitor for holes but also to reinforce the importance of cleaning our teeth and that mum and dad do know best when they tell the kids to brush twice a day. We can also watch how the adult teeth are coming through and see if protective groove fillers (fissure seals) are required to decrease decay risk or if referral to an orthodontist is required to resolve crowding or bite issues.
Tooth Brushing
It is important to brush your teeth twice a day and you can start with children from a few months old wiping their gums with a wet washer in the bath. Once the baby teeth start erupting use a small soft baby brush to gently brush their teeth or let them chew on it in the bath – get the familiar with the idea of a toothbrush and toothbrushing then start brushing their teeth with water twice a day. A small ¼ of a pea size of children’s toothpaste can be introduced from 18months and used up to 6 years old. From 6 years old children can use adult toothpaste twice a day – they still need adult help up that gets less and less over the years until they are about 8 years old and can brush for themselves. After that remind them to brushing morning and night and for 2 minutes – you can set a timer or play their favourite song to help them reach that 2 minutes.
Importance of diet
Fissure Seals
Fissure seals seal the grooves (fissures) in the surface of your teeth, usually the back molars. They are non-invasive with no drilling and are simply glued into the tooth. The aim of these white fissure seals is to prevent holes forming by helping you keep the teeth clean by having a smooth surface to brush. The base of the grooves and pits that can be difficult for toothbrushes to get all the way into and clean out making them more at risk of developing holes in the future.
Custom fitted mouthguards
There are many different types of mouthguards on the market and include stock off the shelf mouthguards, boil-and-bite mouthguards and dentist made custom fitted mouth guards. A custom fitted mouthguard is made specifically for your teeth and can be mad thicker or thinner depending on the level and contact of the sport. They protect the teeth from trauma but also cushion the force transmitted through the jaw from the impact
Custom fitted mouthguards take 2 appointments to make as we need to take impressions of your teeth to send to our lab to get turned into a model to make you mouthguard on so its fits your mouth better allowing you to speak, breath and play sport more easily.
Custom fitted mouthguards can be made in a variety of colours and designed and we put your name and phone number on them too in case you leave behind after a big game.
Baby Teeth
Click here to download when baby teeth come through and when they fall out table
Toothbrushing
Click link to download colouring in and toothbrushing table