Your Child’s Comfort Matters

How does your child react to dental appointments? Are they excited to see their dentist, or do they feel apprehensive and a bit nervous? Developing a trusting relationship with a dentist is an important step in maintaining a positive association with dental care for life.

Early experiences at the dentist have a formative impact on your child’s future, so it’s important to find a dentist who makes them feel comfortable and interested in caring for their teeth. As a parent, you want to find a team that is skilled and qualified in kids’ dental care, but you should also search for a practice outfitted with modern dental technology.

Dental tools and technology not only help dental professionals at their job, but technology also directly benefits a child’s comfort and confidence during their appointments.

Here are four examples of how the dental tech at The Tooth Doc helps children and their families have the best experience possible during their visits.

1. Digital imaging is accurate and fast, which shortens the time your child has to sit still. 

Sitting still isn’t something that comes easily to most children, especially very young kids who are naturally wiggly and inquisitive. Traditional X-rays required kids to stay very still for a short time while the image was taken, and sometimes X-rays had to be redone if the image was blurred from movement. The result was a frustrating start to a dental appointment for children who had an understandably tough time sitting still for more than a few moments.

The Tooth Doc uses advanced imaging through digital X-rays and digital cone beam 3D images. These technologies yield more accurate and detailed images in less time and with less fuss. The dentist is also able to view the images right away, which cuts down on wait time.

X-rays are very safe for children, but digital X-rays have a wonderful health benefit of reduced radiation exposure.

2. Digital impressions are quicker and less messy than traditional putty techniques.

We already mentioned the speed and simplicity of digital cone beam 3D imaging, but this extraordinary type of tech has a secondary benefit. Previously, when a child needed a dental impression taken of a tooth or teeth, the process was messy. A dental putty was used to create a mold of the teeth, and though it didn’t taste like much, it was a very uncomfortable experience for adults, let alone children. The sensation of a mouthful of dental putty can be off-putting for kids, not to mention overwhelming and gag-inducing.

Cone beam 3D imaging entirely eliminates the need for messy dental putty. The images are taken just like a digital X-ray, and it hardly takes any time to create a digital 3D picture of your child’s teeth and jaw structure.

Parents are also happy to know that digital cone beam imaging exposes kids to less radiation than traditional CT scans.

3. Same-day CEREC crowns require fewer appointments and less waiting.

Dental crowns aren’t just for adults. Children and teens often need dental crowns to save teeth from extensive decay that would otherwise need to be extracted. Stainless steel crowns are popular for baby teeth, but many parents today prefer tooth-colored options so their child or teen feels more confident in their smile. However, traditional tooth-colored options were limited to lab-created ceramics or porcelain crowns, which took weeks of waiting.

The Tooth Doc office has its very own CEREC same-day crown milling machine, allowing our dentists to treat a child’s decayed tooth, prep it, and place a permanent crown all in a single visit! CEREC same-day crowns blend in with your child’s smile and offer an attractive and affordable restorative solution for children, especially if they need a crown on a front tooth.

4. Sedation dentistry can make all the difference for kids with dentophobia or medical needs.

Feeling anxious about seeing a dentist is a common obstacle children face, even if they haven’t necessarily had a bad experience with a dentist. Sometimes this anxiety can be mild and easily managed, but severe anxiety or true dentophobia (fear of the dentist) can make dental care nearly impossible. Similarly, children with certain medical or healthcare needs may find it emotionally or physically impossible to safely sit still for a treatment appointment.

Sedation dentistry is a wonderful solution that has helped countless children and teens find comfort during their appointments. The Tooth Doc offers light sedation in the form of nitrous oxide up to full general anesthesia for children who will benefit most from simply sleeping during a procedure. Oral conscious sedation is a step in between that offers a stronger sedating effect than nitrous oxide without the need for complete anesthesia.

Book an appointment at our family-favorite dental office in Omaha.

The Tooth Doc is a great place for complete family dental care in West Omaha. We treat patients of all ages, and our team especially loves working with children to help them learn that dentists can be wonderful friends rather than intimidating figures. We’re also well known for being a great place for helping adults and children with dental anxiety and dentophobia feel relaxed and respected.

Schedule an appointment for yourself or your child by clicking here, or you can call our office directly.