Education & prevention
Shawnee Pediatric Dentistry focuses on education and prevention because these are the keys to lifelong dental health. We offer preventive services like fluoride treatments and dental sealants to protect your child’s smile from cavities and decay.
During routine appointments, Dr. Sarah will make sure that your child’s teeth and gums are healthy. If any treatment is necessary, we'll take a conservative approach, only recommending for your child what we would do for our own.
Dental Cleanings
Dental cleanings and exams are two of the most basic but important preventive treatments we provide at our office. Each time your child visits us for a checkup, we'll provide a professional teeth cleaning and dental exam to help their smile stay healthy.
During your child’s cleaning and exam, our dental team will:
Clean their teeth by removing any plaque or tartar (also called dental calculus), which can lead to tooth decay and periodontal disease.
Floss and polish their teeth for a healthy, bright smile.
Examine their smile for signs of any damaging dental conditions.
We may utilize dental X-rays to further evaluate your child’s smile and ensure they receive the dental care they need. Regular dental cleanings and exams are essential in maintaining good oral health, preventing cavities and gum disease, and making sure that any damaging conditions are treated as early as possible.
We recommend bringing your child in for a visit every six months to receive a routine dental cleaning and exam. We may suggest more frequent visits if needed, and encourage you to contact us if your child suffers from a dental emergency, pain or injury.
Fluoride
Fluoride may seem like a foreign substance, but it's actually a natural substance that's beneficial to your teeth. You can find it in rocks, the soil, groundwater, and drinking water. It supports the enamel and may improve your oral health. Fluoride helps to prevent various dental issues when used regularly and appropriately.
How does fluoride benefit enamel?
Fluoride is added to drinking water throughout the U.S. because, in small amounts, it has shown to reduce rates of tooth decay. It can harden the enamel on teeth, making it harder for bacteria to attack it. Fluoride also benefits developing teeth — helping them grow strong and healthy.
It builds stronger enamel.
Your teeth are going through a constant cycle of mineral loss and replenishment. Each day, they're bathed in your saliva then minerals are lost and regained in the enamel. When minerals are lost and they haven’t been replaced, tooth decay becomes more likely and your oral health may decrease. Fluoride builds stronger enamel and keeps the minerals in your saliva and teeth balanced, resulting in a healthier smile and less risk of tooth decay and other dental issues.
It stabilizes cavities.
Fluoride protects teeth by replenishing minerals they’ve lost — a process known as demineralization. Replacing these minerals not only strengthens the enamel but also stabilizes small cavities before they have a chance to worsen.
Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF)
Silver Diamine Fluoride is an antimicrobial liquid that's able to treat cavities in a non-invasive, fast, affordable, and painless manner. Some patients who have active tooth decay may be eligible for an alternative treatment that uses SDF.
Compared to a traditional filling that requires shots of local anesthetic and drilling of the tooth structure, this treatment is non-invasive and more comfortable for the patient. It's a liquid that's simply brushed onto the cavity that can stop current decay and prevent new decay in the future.
Dental Sealants
At Shawnee Pediatric Dentistry, we use dental sealants to protect, guard, and defend teeth against cavities. Dental sealants are especially useful as a preventative measure.
This preventive measure is a coating that one of our dentists will “paint” onto your child’s teeth to provide long-lasting extra protection from decay. Dental sealant treatments are simple, non-invasive, and create a barrier that shields your child's teeth from harmful bacteria.
Children are often prone to cavities due to sugar consumption and improper brushing techniques, and dental sealants can help by adding a layer of protection to keep your child’s smile healthy. When you visit our office, we'll be happy to provide you with more information about dental sealants and preventative care.
Mouthguards
Our pediatric dentist and team are dedicated to keeping your smile healthy and free from pain. To help us do this, we provide several types of mouth guards at our office.
For our active patients, we recommend a type of mouthguard called an athletic mouth guard or sports guard. Sports guards fit over your teeth while you play sports and participate in other athletic activities to protect your smile from injury. Sports guards are especially important for our patients who play high-contact sports such as wrestling, football, hockey, and rugby.
However, all types of athletes can benefit from an athletic mouthguard. Whether you play soccer, basketball or baseball, a sports guard can be a great way to protect your smile and keep it safe.
While a number of types of athletic mouth guards are available, a custom-made mouthguard is the most effective in protecting your smile. This type of mouthguard is designed to comfortably fit your smile and prevent dental injury such as knocked out and chipped teeth. A sports guard can also help to prevent injury to the soft tissues of the mouth, including the tongue, lips, cheeks, and gums.
Digital X-Rays
Shawnee Pediatric Dentistry follows the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's (AAPD) radiographic examination guidelines. We require all patients to take X-rays at designated intervals determined by the child's individual risk of decay and the AAPD guidelines. To ensure your child is exposed to as little radiation as possible, our office uses digital radiography.
Digital radiography has changed the way we take dental X-rays by making the process faster, more comfortable, and more convenient than ever before. They use significantly less radiation than conventional film X-rays and require the use of no chemicals for developing the images.
Dr. Sarah can instantly view the high-quality images on monitors in the treatment room to provide your child with efficient, accurate diagnoses and care.
Our team is able to use digital radiography to identify and diagnose dental problems, such as:
Decay in between teeth
Developmental abnormalities
Improper tooth root positioning
Cysts and abscesses
Fractures in existing fillings
Infection in the tooth nerves
We'll never take an X-ray unless it is absolutely necessary. If you're uncomfortable with your child taking dental x-rays under any circumstance, Shawnee Pediatric Dentistry may not be a good fit for your child's dental home.
Specialty Dental Care
Our team stays up-to-date on the latest advances in pediatric dentistry. We offer a wide array of services, including preventive care, dental sealants, minimally invasive techniques, fillings, crowns, endodontics, interceptive orthodontics, silver diamine fluoride (SDF), extractions, mouth guards, and emergency dental care. For more information, contact us or ask our team during your next visit.