What Is A Pediatric Dentist?
A Pediatric Dentist is a specialist dedicated to the oral health of children and the monitoring of their facial growth and development. At Little People’s Dentistry, our office is designed for treating children from infancy through adolescence, as well as the medically and physically compromised children.
A pediatric dentist has at least two additional years of training beyond dental school. The additional training focuses on management and treatment of a child s developing teeth, child behavior, physical growth and development, and the special needs of children s dentistry. Although either type of dentist is capable of addressing your child s oral health care needs, a pediatric dentist, his or her staff, and even the office décor are all geared to care for children and to put them at ease. If your child has special needs, care from a pediatric dentist should be considered.
What is a pediatric dentist and how do they differ from “regular dentists”? Well, in a nutshell, a pediatric dentist is a specialist who is dedicated to the oral health of children from infancy through the teenage years. During this “growth” phase of a child, special approaches are needed in dealing with their behavior, and guiding their dental growth and development in order to avoid future dental problems. Children are our only patients, and all our training is devoted to meeting their specialized needs. Did you know pediatric dentists have an additional two to three years of post-doctoral training to acquaint them with the special needs and remedies available to children? That’s right! In addition to learning the most up-to-date treatments available for a wide variety of children’s dental problems, we also learn how to deal with the behavioral aspects of children, how to make them feel comfortable about the treatment they are receiving, and to make the experience pleasant, and not f
A pediatric dentist and a general dentist have a common goal of keeping children’s mouths healthy. Many times pediatric dentists and general dentists work hand in hand to meet that goal. A pediatric dental specialist has had a minimum of 24 months in an advanced education program designed to provide special knowledge and skills beyond the DDS training. Pediatric dentistry encompasses disciplines such as behavior management, care of the medically and developmentally compromised and disabled patient, supervision of orofacial growth and development, caries prevention, sedation, pharmacological management, hospital dentistry, as well as other traditional fields of dentistry. These skills are applied to treating conditions and disease unique to growing individuals and to the needs of children’s stages of development.
A pediatric dentist is a specialist dedicated to the oral health of children and monitoring their facial growth and development. Our office is designed for children from infancy through adolescence, as well as the medically and the mentally compromised children. The American of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that a child’s first dental visit should occur by the eruption of their first eight teeth or by their first birthday. This visit will enable Dr. Keels and Dr. Neal to build a relationship with your child and introduce you to proper oral hygiene. Diet, fluoride, finger sucking and other habits, and in addition we will discuss tooth eruption to insure optimal dental health.
