It is important to take your child to the dentist as soon as they get their first baby tooth coming through, which is generally before or around their first birthday. Having regular check-ups at our practice will ensure that your child has the head start they need in life when it comes to oral hygiene.

Children’s dentistry in Leamington Spa can consist of biannual examinations as well as other treatments such as fillings and braces for the older children whose adult teeth have started coming through crooked. The only foolproof way to find out exactly what treatment your child will need is to book an appointment at our practice so one of our highly trained dental professionals can examine the condition of their teeth and assess what treatments they will need to help maintain a healthy smile.

Make sure you are brushing your child’s teeth properly

Children’s dentistry in Leamington Spa is only able to do so much for your child. You must ensure that they have a rigorous oral hygiene routine that they follow at home, so they are less likely to suffer from tooth decay. Tooth decay and plaque build-up is common in children and teenagers and will often result in them needing a filling to resolve these problems. Brushing their teeth properly can help reduce the chances of this from happening.

When your child is young you should always supervise them when they are brushing their teeth, as you need to ensure they are not neglecting the back teeth or missing spots. They should be cleaning their teeth twice a day, the same as adults, once in the morning and once before they go to bed. This helps fight against the plaque that naturally builds up throughout the day from eating and drinking sugary or acidic foods and liquids.

It is highly recommended that you start taking your child to the dentist with you as soon as possible, as they will see you having dental treatment and learn not to be afraid or nervous about it at all. If your child sees you consciously trying to maintain good oral hygiene, it will encourage them to do the same.

Is taking your child to the dentist expensive?

In the United Kingdom we are fortunate enough to have the NHS, and this actually covers the costs of most children’s dentistry in Leamington Spa. General check-ups and examinations are covered as well as routine treatments such as fillings and braces right up until your child turns eighteen years of age. Taking your child to the dentist early is not only a good idea because the costs will be covered, but because having good oral hygiene and strong and healthy teeth will make them less likely to need extensive dental treatment later in life.

However, if you wish for your child to be seen sooner than the NHS waiting list permits, you can have them seen privately at our practice, Leamington Spa Dental Practice. We are always happy to welcome new patients of any age, and our dental professionals will try their hardest to give your child the treatment they need. Going private will cost more, but can you really put a price on your child’s smile?

What happens to your children’s teeth can influence their oral health throughout their lives, which is why at Leamington Spa Dental Practice, we see children’s dentistry as vitally important.

In Leamington Spa, children’s dentistry is all about education, developing good habits and preventing decay. If these are taken care of well, your children can go off to their adult lives with a set of beautiful looking, healthy teeth and dental habits that are ingrained enough to enable them to keep them up even when they move towns time and again. Working with us as a team will enable you to give your children their best shot at keeping their own teeth for life.

Education

It can take quite a while for kids to get skilled at brushing their teeth, and to develop the discipline to stand at the sink for 2 minutes twice a day. We can help teach them with lessons from the hygienist and also by you bringing them along to your own or older siblings check-ups so that they get used to the dentist and see the clinic as a positive environment. All of our dentists have lots of experience in working with children and putting them at ease.

Decay

Decay is quite a problem for kids. They are still acquiring toothbrushing skills and they are far more likely to be consuming sugary snacks and drinks. Keeping plaque at bay can be a problem. Some parents mistakenly believe that decay in baby teeth doesn’t matter because they are going to come out anyway, but decay can move from these teeth to the adult teeth waiting to come through behind them.

We offer 2 ways to protect your children’s teeth from the acids that cause decay. Fluoride treatment hardens tooth enamel to make it harder to erode. Fissure sealants, which are painted onto the chewing surfaces and crevices of the back teeth, act as a barrier against plaque in places that are hard for young brushers to clean.

Teamwork

If you and the team here at Leamington Spa Dental Practice work together as a team, we can make sure your children have a bright dental future ahead of them.

Children absorb information like sponges, taking in absolutely everything that goes on around them and storing it away for later reference, using it to create the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that will shape them for the rest of their lives.

That’s why being a parent is such a huge responsibility. It also why children’s dentistry has improved hugely over the last few decades. At Leamington Spa Dental Practice in Leamington Spa, children’s dentistry is shaping the dental patients of tomorrow, and we want all our young patients to grown into adults with great teeth who have no problem in visiting the dentist.

There’s even a good chance they will stay with us as their dental practice. There has been a practice on this site in Leamington Spa for 150 years and we already have families of several generations as our patients.

Getting your child ready

So that you can habituate your child to seeing the dentist, we recommend that you bring them in for an appointment as soon as their first teeth appear. In fact, you can bring your kids along to your own appointments when they are still babies. They can see that you are calm and relaxed when our friendly dentists treat you and this will go in, making it much less challenging the first time they get in the chair and have some big adult poke around inside their mouth.

It’s good to get your child into the habit of having a check-up every 6 months. Also, there are still high rates of tooth decay in the UK’s children, so it’s important that your children’s teeth are regularly checked.

Your children also need to see the hygienist a couple of times a year for a scale and polish to prevent plaque turning into tartar and damaging their teeth.

Another reason to make sure we see your child regularly from a young age is so that we can keep an eye on the development of their teeth and jaws. Early detection of misalignments of the teeth and bite means we and prepare for the right braces treatment at the right age.