Making Back-To-School Check-ups Part of Your Child’s Regular Routine
It’s that time of year again as summer starts to draw to a close and the new school term looms large. It’s a time for new beginnings, and it’s also a great opportunity to get into a regular routine of booking check-ups for your children. This will help ensure they start the new term with a nice, healthy mouth and it helps lessen the chance of needing to extract them from school for emergency dental appointments.
Tooth decay is a common problem, and many children have at least one cavity or a filling, and in fact this condition is second only to the common cold in its prevalence. Children who are in poor dental health are more likely to have problems concentrating at school, and they’re less likely to be able to eat a healthy diet. It’s also estimated that many school hours are lost each year due to dental related illnesses.
A quick check-up now with Dr David Brown or another of our Leeds dentists could help prevent minor dental concerns developing into major dental problems. A lot of people don’t realise that tooth decay is a bacterial disease, and it’s something that can be easily prevented through making sure your child brushes and flosses each day, and through limiting their intake of sugary snacks and drinks.
Children’s Preventative Dental Care in Leeds
Our dentist in Leeds City Dentalcare will also advise you how best to look after your children’s teeth, and can check that they are developing normally. If your child recently lost their primary teeth, and now has all their adult chewing teeth, then it’s well worth asking about dental sealants. Dental sealants are a great preventative dental care treatment that can help to prevent tooth decay. They work by sealing the chewing surfaces of the back teeth, preventing bacteria from becoming trapped in the deep fissures and grooves in these teeth. Treatment is quick and simple and will only take one visit to our Leeds surgery to complete.
Dental Sealants
Dental sealants can only be used on healthy teeth that don’t have any fillings or signs of decay, so it’s quite important to act quickly. Your Leeds dentists will clean and dry your children’s teeth before painting them with a solution that helps to roughen the surface of the teeth slightly, as this creates a better bond between the sealant and the tooth. This solution is washed off, the teeth are dried, and the sealant is painted onto the chewing surfaces of the teeth and hardened; it really is as simple as that.
Orthodontic Treatment in Leeds
Our dentists in Leeds can also advise you as to whether or not your child requires orthodontic treatment to straighten their teeth. We offer a number of different orthodontic braces, including some that are nearly invisible, something that makes them much easier for self-conscious teens to wear. Today’s modern orthodontic braces tend to be removable, making it easy for your children to keep their teeth clean and free from disease during treatment. Apart from improving the look of their teeth, orthodontic treatment can make it easier to brush and floss, decreasing their chances of developing gum disease or tooth decay.
Getting the right dental treatment during these early years, and getting your children into the habit of regularly visiting the dentist, will help them have a healthy smile for longer, possibly for their entire life.
Dr. David S Brown
David is principal dentist & clinical director of Leeds City Dentalcare. Having graduated at Leeds University & at the Royal College of Surgeons, London, he joined the practice in 1990 & took over as principal in 1992. He has a passion for ensuring that we are equipped with the very latest & finest equipment available securing our place as one of the best equipped practices in Yorkshire.
