Pedodontics (Pediatric Dentistry) is a department that aims to protect the healthy milk and permanent teeth of children aged 0-13 years and to eliminate the problems caused by caries, trauma, hereditary and similar factors in these teeth.

Importance of Milk Teeth

There are 20 milk teeth in total. The first task of milk teeth is to provide nutrition for the child. The proper development of speech also depends on the presence of milk teeth. Deciduous teeth protect the space they occupy for the permanent tooth that will replace them and guide the permanent tooth as it erupts. When the deciduous tooth is extracted early, this natural placeholder function disappears. The first aim of pediatric dentistry is to take precautions to prevent dental problems and to guide children to a caries-free future. The procedures applied for this purpose are called Preventive Dental Practices.

Preventive Applications

Among the preventive practices aimed at preventing dental caries, great importance is attached to educating the child and his/her family about oral and dental health and nutrition. In our clinic, tooth brushing technique is explained to our patients practically. Preventive dentistry practices also include superficial fluoride and fissure sealant procedures.

Fissure Sealant

It is a fluid filling material that closes deep and decay-prone fissures (grooves) on the chewing surfaces of permanent teeth, does not allow bacteria to reach there and thus prevents decay. Fissure sealant applications should be checked every 6 months.

Fluoride Applications

Fluorine is an element that prevents tooth decay and strengthens the structure of teeth. Since the enamel is not fully mature when teeth first erupt, newly erupted teeth are generally less resistant to decay and prone to caries formation. By strengthening the enamel, fluorine protects the tooth against acid attacks and thus helps prevent tooth decay. Professional superficial fluoride application is a preventive method that can only be applied by dentists. Superficial fluoride should be applied by a dentist every 6 months.

Tooth Decay

Tooth decay is a disease that starts with the destruction of tooth hard tissues by acids produced as a result of fermentation of nutrients by bacteria on the teeth. Especially in early childhood, common caries seen in young children as a result of putting foods such as milk with honey, sugar or biscuits in a bottle during sleep and giving it to the child, and dipping the pacifier into sugary foods are called bottle caries.

Tooth Trauma

Traumatic injuries are one of the most common problems in childhood. Treatment is based on the patient’s age, the degree and site of injury, the tissues involved and the general condition of the patient.

Placeholders

In cases of early deciduous tooth loss, appliances called space maintainers are used to protect the place of the permanent tooth that will come from below. Space maintainers are appliances that prevent the neighboring teeth from moving into the extraction cavity and thus preventing the permanent tooth from either remaining impacted or emerging from a different place, thus preventing orthodontic disorder in the future. The treatment of children who are compatible with the dentist is performed under clinical conditions, while the treatment of mentally disabled or anxious children is performed under sedation or general anesthesia.