The Purpose of Early Dental Visits

Few things are more precious than seeing your child smile. When only one or two teeth appear in your baby’s smile, you may not have dental care on your radar at all. However, oral health care has already begun. One of the best ways to take care of your child’s teeth and gums is to prevent problems from the start. Most pediatricians and dental experts agree that a child should receive his or her first dental exam sometime around their first birthday, or whenever the teeth start to cut through. From there, we like to see your child every six months for routine dental care.

Dental visits at a young age serve several purposes, including the following:

Desensitizing young children to the dental environment.

Having several “fun” visits to the dentist means that your child won’t develop an impression of these trips being associated with something painful or invasive. Instead, it’s something they can actually look forward to.

Identifying problems when they’re easier (and cheaper) to treat.

Primary (“baby”) teeth decay at a very rapid rate due to their anatomical structure. A tiny cavity is a simple and inexpensive thing to correct, until it manifests itself into an infected nerve or severely decayed crown.

Avoiding dental emergencies.

When small concerns can be assessed early, we can catch them before intense pain or infection develops. Believe it or not, a dental abscess could put your child in the hospital!

Orthodontic assessments.

Sure, braces may be years away, but your child’s adult smile is developing right now. If a tooth is coming in improperly or lost prematurely, it may cause a significant impact on the eruption patterns of the permanent adult tooth. In some cases, early intervention is necessary (such as a space maintainer) to avoid unwanted bite discrepancies later on.

At the The Pediatric Dental Team, we offer a complete menu of dental services to children of all ages. We promise you won’t regret entrusting us with your child’s smile.