Restorative Dentistry
in Reynoldsburg
To contact our office, please use our new email office@bpdoh.com
There is nothing worse than something happening to your child. You hate it when they have the sniffles, so how much worse is it when something happens to their wonderful, necessary smiles? We get it! We have kids of our own and understand the vital importance of getting those grins back to health as quickly and comfortably as possible.
While it is true that baby teeth are meant to fall out and be replaced by adult teeth, these little teeth are crucial for a number of reasons. They allow kids to chew their food properly, which is an essential part of digestion and proper nutrition. They help children speak and enunciate properly, important for both social and developmental reasons. And they are vital to guiding adult teeth into their permanent location and for the development of the jaw.
While it is difficult to prevent trauma (We can’t really swath smiles in bubble wrap, can we?), there are specific and proven ways to help prevent the occurrence of cavities. This starts, of course, with consistent home hygiene, but there are lots of other things that we may never think of that can help as well.
Here are some things that lead to cavities. Do you do any of these?
Even things like stomach ailments that cause kids to vomit frequently, or nighttime clenching and grinding can affect the strength and quality of the enamel and make teeth vulnerable to decay.
Prom. Job interviews. College visits. A first date. These are times your teenager needs to feel his or her most confident. These milestone experiences in teenage lives set the stage for the rest of their lives! Why not offer them a little confidence-booster with tray smile whitening? We offer take-home tray whitening for young smiles because it causes less sensitivity. Our whitening trays are custom fitted for absolute safety and comfort. They begin with impressions of your child’s teeth. These impressions are then are crafted into medical-grade plastic trays at our office. These trays should perfectly fit his or her upper and lower teeth, without touching the sensitive gums. Once the trays are in, whitening is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
No one gets excited when the cavity bugs strike. Even the idea of getting a filling can be nerve-wracking to parents and children alike. Don’t worry! We specialize in fixing kids teeth. Here at Buckeye Pediatric Dentistry, we prefer to use tooth-colored fillings for this work. These fillings blend perfectly in little smiles so your young person can continue to smile with complete confidence. To place these fillings, we:
There can be multiple reasons why a tooth can't be saved and needs to be pulled:
We know no one wants the tooth fairy to visit at the wrong time, but if a tooth extraction is needed, isn’t it nice to know it can be done right here with Dr. Gerstmann, instead of by a stranger in a strange office? We will explain the entire process, step-by-step, to both you and your child so you know exactly what to expect before, during, and after the extraction.
It is our goal to get every child to have a positive in-office experience, we use carefully tested “behavior management” techniques. Simply put, that means we help your child feel so relaxed and safe we can perform almost any dental procedure without sedation or other pharmaceutical intervention. It starts by:
We also offer Silver Diamine Fluoride for special needs patients and babies. This specially formulated liquid allows us to treat active dental disease and cavities without any invasive treatments. This is not our first choice for cavity care, but we do use it in instances in which children are unable to sit with their mouths open or tolerate any drilling.
Sometimes, the nerves within your child's tooth can become infected and cause pain, swelling, and infections. This can also lead to having the tooth completely removed. But, Dr. Lucia and Dr. Marlina can potentially save the tooth through nerve treatment, sometimes referred to as pulpotomy/pulpectomy.
Nitrous Oxide is a safe gas that can be administered to help calm the child and keep them relaxed during the procedures. As an added bonus, this is an effective method of removing a child's gag reflex to allow treatments to proceed more smoothly.
Sometimes, when a cavity or decay in a tooth becomes too large, a simple filling won't do the trick. If this is the case, Buckeye Pediatric Dentistry offers to place a crown or a "cap" over the tooth. This is a stainless steel cover that goes over the tooth and eliminates the effects of decay in that particular tooth.
Space maintainers may prevent more complicated dental treatments in the future. It’s not uncommon for any child to lose a baby tooth too soon. It could be a result of an accident/injury or cavities/decay. While it may not seem like a big deal because another tooth will eventually erupt in its place, missing a tooth early can actually cause problems further down the road.
Your Reynoldsburg pediatric dentist will be happy to show you just how important baby teeth are. They often get overlooked because they’re considered temporary and will fall out over time. But did you know that these tiny teeth are actually important in a big way? Primary teeth will help your child chew foods, develop healthy jaw and facial structure, and speak clearly.
Baby teeth have another very important job. They also act as space maintainers for permanent teeth before they’re ready to push through the gum line.
As always, our dedication to keeping our patients safe remains our top priority. To help us do that, please be aware of some of the following changes you may see at your next appointment:
Our office has always maintained infection protocols that meet and exceed minimal recommendations, and we will continue to do so. In fact, our standard of care is now being adopted as the industry gold-standard in reducing aerosols.