Why bother sealing teeth against decay?

Can a baby bottle cause decay of front teeth?

What do I do If a tooth is completely knocked out?

Prevention, what is the best way to look after childrens' teeth?

The "chewing surfaces" of all molar teeth (the large ones at the back) are covered with small pits or fissures which extend right down into the tooth itself. However well or often your children brush their teeth these fissures are very difficult to clean thoroughly, food particles and germs stick in them and will eventually cause decay. Even fluoride in drinking water or toothpaste, which helps protect the smooth sides of the teeth, can't protect these "high risk" areas against decay.

Fissure sealant is a tough, plastic coating which your dentist applies to the "chewing" surfaces of childrens' molar and pre-molar teeth. Before we can do this we have to clean the tooth surfaces thoroughly so that the fissure sealant will adhere properly. We simply apply the fissure sealant onto the "chewing" surface where it is hardened with a light. It penetrates and completely seals the fissures thus preventing any food particles or germs from getting in. The glassy smooth surface is now easy to keep clean with a toothbrush and in no way affects the normal chewing function of the teeth - your child won't even notice it's there.

Tests over many years have shown that fissure sealant greatly reduces tooth decay and therefore cuts down the number of fillings a child might need.

It is best to get the teeth sealed with fissure sealants as soon as each individual permanent molar and pre-molar have fully erupted - your dentist will give you advice. Your children will still have to clean their teeth. It is still essential to brush regularly with a good toothbrush and preferably use a fluoride toothpaste. It is also important to keep going to your dentist for regular check-ups because other teeth might need attention.

Extensive decay can be caused by allowing your baby to fall asleep with a reservoir baby bottle in their mouth. Try to move to a cup as soon as possible.

Find the permanent tooth.
Do not align or touch the root.
Store it immediately in milk.
Immediately see a us within half an hour if possible.
It is usually possible to replace the tooth in your childs mouth. There is a procedure called reimplantation that has a 96% success rate.

Prevention for Children:
As soon as teeth can be seen in the mouth brush them twice a day, once before breakfast and last thing at night. Parents should supervise toothbrushing and prevent children from eating or licking toothpaste from the tube.

Children under 3
Children under 3 should use only a smear of pre-school toothpaste, a thousand parts per million fluoride (shown on toothpaste container as: 1000ppm F).

Children aged 3-6
Children aged 3-6 should use no more than a pea sized amount of toothpaste containing no less than one thousand three hundred and fifty parts per million fluoride (shown on toothpaste container as: 1350ppm F).

Adolescents and adults
Adolescents and adults should use a toothpaste containing no less than one thousand three hundred and fifty parts per million fluoride (shown on toothpaste container as: 1350ppm F).

After brushing spit out foam only, do no rinse with large quantity of water.

Under 5 year old children with one+ fillings
Children under 5 with no fillings with parents with multiple fillings
Toothpaste as above
Very important three monthly dental appointments
Three monthly dentist applied fluoride varnish application to dramatically reduce decay by 70%
Discuss diet

Under 5 year old children with three+ fillings
Toothpaste as above
Monthly fluoride varnish application to all children in the family to dramatically reduce decay by 96%
Use of Corsodyl daily by all children and both parents under dental supervision
Use of diet analysis sheets to help see where probelm is occuring

6 year old children with decay in first teeth
Possible Fissure Seal of all permanent back teeth

10-16 year olds with high decay rates
Toothpaste as above
Use high fluoride two thousand eight hundred parts per million fluoride (shown on toothpaste container as 2800ppm F) toothpastes by prescription from us.

16 year old+ with high decay rates
Toothpaste as above
Use high fluoride five thousand parts per million fluoride (show on toothpaste container as 5000ppm F) toothpastes by prescription from us.

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