The new school term is only around the corner, and it is a great time to get ahead with your preparations, including scheduling a back-to-school dental checkup in Bowmanville, especially if your child is overdue for seeing a dentist.
Why are Dental Checkups Important?
Regular dental checkups are vital for maintaining good dental health, even if your kid’s teeth seem problem-free. When we can see your child regularly, we can closely monitor the development of their teeth and jaws. We can thoroughly clean their teeth to help prevent common oral diseases like tooth decay in Newcastle and gum disease. Professionally cleaning their teeth eliminates harmful bacteria and leaves them with a smile that gleams with health and beautifully fresh breath.
Why Schedule a Back-To-School Dental Checkup?
When children return to school, they often face new teachers, classes and fresh opportunities for snacking between meals. They can have busy schedules that distract them from brushing their teeth regularly, increasing the risk of oral disease in Courtice.
Scheduling a dental checkup before a new term begins will give you and your child peace of mind, knowing their dental health is in great shape. Additionally, regular dental checkups help children value good oral health and develop a good attitude towards seeing dentists regularly in the future.
Closely monitoring their teeth and jaws allows us to identify any oral health problems much earlier, so we can provide appropriate treatment sooner. For example, monitoring their jaw growth can help us identify any problems with misaligned teeth that may be easier to correct while their teeth and jaws are still growing and developing. These regular visits are also a chance for you both to ask us lots of questions about your child’s dental health. We love educating patients and especially working with children to show them the best way to care for their teeth and gums between dental visits. Our caring and friendly dental team can also explain to children why good dental health is so important, using terminology that is age-appropriate and easy to understand.
What Happens during a Dental Checkup?
If it has been a while since your child has seen a dentist, they may feel a bit nervous or anxious, but dental checkups are nothing to fear. They are simply an examination, where we assess their teeth and gums, and the appointment is completely painless. We can explain what is happening during the appointment, which can help soothe anxious kids, and our dental team is extremely experienced in helping everyone feel relaxed in the dental chair, whether they are a child or an adult!
Most children will benefit from preventive dentistry, such as a professional dental cleaning, to remove plaque and tartar from their teeth. We may also recommend fluoride treatments that help harden tooth surfaces making them more resistant to cavities. Dental sealants are another preventive dental care treatment that can be applied to the chewing surfaces of back teeth, the premolars and molars. Cavities often develop in these teeth because the chewing surfaces are trickier to keep clean as they have lots of grooves and fissures that can be quite deep and tricky to brush thoroughly. These are normally applied to adult teeth when they first erupt and help prevent decay in these vulnerable surfaces.
Once the checkup is complete, we can discuss our findings with you and your child. If they require treatment, we can explain which procedure we recommend and why and we will ensure the process is as painless and smooth as possible. They can then return to school with a clean, healthy mouth.
