Pediatric Dentistry (Pedodontics)
Teeth need good care from the moment they start to erupt in the mouth for the first time. Milk teeth begin to erupt in the first months of life and perform their chewing function until they are replaced with permanent teeth.
A balanced diet plays an important role in the growth and development of children. The way to a balanced and healthy diet is through healthy teeth, which are the first step of the digestive system, which are used to break and grind food.
Milk teeth start to erupt in the mouth from the 6th month. In general, all of the milk teeth have erupted in a child who is 3 years old. Permanent teeth start to erupt at the age of 6 for the first time and take their places by driving under the milk teeth until the age of 12. This period, also called the mixed dentition period, is a special period in which oral hygiene should be paid particular attention to. Some special features of this period require more care and attention.
In the mixed dentition and deciduous period, babies and young children cannot perform their oral care adequately. It is important to brush teeth under the supervision of a parent during this period. In order for children to gain a habit of oral hygiene, they must take the brush in their hands, brush their teeth themselves, and then the brushing process must be completed by a parent. Teeth should be cleaned from the first day in the mouth. In the first periods, new teeth can be cleaned with a gauze pad or a clean cheesecloth in a 6-8 month old baby. When teething continues, cleaning is performed with a toothbrush suitable for the age of the baby or young child.
Teeth relationships are not regular in the period of deciduous dentition and mixed dentition. While some of the teeth are newly erupted, some of them are mobilized due to the permanent tooth coming from the bottom. The irregular relationship between teeth in this period results in food accumulation in these intermediate areas. Dental caries may develop in these areas that cannot be cleaned sufficiently. If early tooth decay is not treated, it may cause premature loss of the milk tooth, narrow space in the jaw for permanent teeth due to early loss of milk teeth, and orthodontic disorders due to this, color and deformities in permanent teeth due to the effect of milk tooth infections on the underlying permanent tooth.
For these reasons, it is important to have regular dentist checks from the moment the teeth start to erupt in the mouth, as in adults. Pediatric dentistry (pedodontics), a specialty of dentistry, deals with the oral and dental health of children from birth to the end of adolescence.
Pediatric dentistry, the control and prevention of eruption disorders observed in milk and permanent teeth in children, the application of preventive procedures to both deciduous teeth and new permanent teeth, early diagnosis and treatment of decays observed in milk and permanent teeth, or moving place holders and preventing orthodontic disorders.
When do teeth last?
The first deciduous teeth are lower, middle and lateral incisors and last 6-12 months. First milk molars erupt in 12-18 months, milk canine teeth in 18-24 months and second milk molars in 24-30 months. In a child who has reached the age of 3, the eruption of milk teeth is completed. Permanent teeth start to erupt with the first molar teeth at the age of 6. 7-year-old incisors, 8-year-old lateral incisors, 10-year-old canines, 9-11-year-old premolars, 12-year-old 2nd molars and 17-21-year-old third molars. Early or late eruptions for 6 months in primary teeth and 1 year in permanent teeth are considered normal.
Sedation practices in children
A controlled quasi-sleep state, provided by intravenous medications by an anesthesiologist, is called sedation. It is a method frequently used in patients who experience fear and anxiety in dentistry, children and adult patients with mental disabilities and cannot be cooperated.
Long hours spent in the dentist’s chair in pediatric patients with multiple caries may increase the child’s fear and discontinue the treatment. In addition, the sounds of the tools used by the dentist in pediatric patients with fear and anxiety can cause the child’s sudden reflexes. It is also possible for the child, who turns his head with sudden reflexes, to be injured due to the instruments used by the dentist. In such cases, if the child does not consciously allow treatment, it can be treated with sedation.
The sedation procedure is provided by an anesthesiologist with the help of a drug administered into a vein to the patient whose vascular access is opened. Following the end of the procedure, the intravenous drug is discontinued and the patient is awakened. The patient, whose treatment is finished, wakes up shortly after the drug is stopped and can go home approximately 30 minutes after waking up.
Sedated child does not remember any of the dental procedures. All procedures are completed in a single session for children with more than one caries. The child, who is not affected negatively psychologically, comes to the progressive dentist controls more comfortably.
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