How Your Family Benefits From Visiting a Kids Dentist

As a kids dentist, there are many unique challenges we face on a daily basis, given the age and development of our patients. However, the largest challenge that any kids dentist faces is the lack of emphasis many parents place on visiting a pediatric dental specialist early in a child's life. There is a growing problem with pediatric dental disease around the world, even in the United States. Studies have shown that childhood decay, another name for pediatric dental disease, has become exceedingly common in children, with an occurrence rate five times more frequent than asthma and seven times more frequent than hay fever. Part of the challenge we face as a kids dentist is educating parents on the importance of bringing children in for regular examinations and cleanings. Eighty-nine percent of all children one year or older have had at least one pediatrician office wellness visit in their life. The comparable numbers for pediatric dentistry is an appalling 1.5 percent. This lack of care is leading to an epidemic of cavities and decay. In children between the ages of two and five, we are already seeing a 25 percent occurrence rate of decay. With children who are older, between 12 to 15 years, the occurrence of decay doubles to 50 percent. Left untreated or unidentified, pediatric dental disease can cause long-term damage to the mouth and have an effect on other critical developmental functions as well.

Being a kid's dentist is like many things in the medical profession: we build off the successes we have early in order to prevent further problems later down the road. The more a child is exposed to preventative dental practices, the less likely they are to need emergency procedures or even restorative procedures from their kid's dentist as they get older. The same truth holds for adults as well but is particularly important when dealing with children and their developing teeth. Studies have shown that spending the time and money on preventative dental care can reap long-term rewards for parents and children. From a child's perspective, never having to deal with tooth pain or an emergency dental procedure is a winning scenario. In addition, we know that every year, roughly 2.26 million school days - in other words, productivity - are lost because children are spending time getting restorative or emergency dental attention. From a parent's perspective, recent studies have shown that for every dollar ($1) spent in holistic preventative dental care at the kid's dentist, there is a strong chance of saving up to $50 in future costs. Simple steps like following the 2-2-2 rule can assist in ensuring that you keep your child's teeth healthy.

The first two in this rule is the number of times your child should visit a dentist in a year. Visiting their kids dentist at least twice per year will let us professionals clean their teeth and catch any problems before they become serious. Next, your kid should be brushing their teeth at least two times per day for a minimum of two minutes per brushing. This proper oral hygiene will go far to prevent conditions like childhood tooth decay from occurring.