Thursday, October 12, 2017

Wait?! What?! My kid has CAVITIES?

If I wasn’t in the dental field, someone telling me my child has cavities would totally freak me out!  I understand, as a parent, that we are inundated with reasons to feel guilty about how we are raising our children.  The reality is that the number of kids with decay has been steadily increasing for decades and will affect most people at some point in their lives. 

Our office utilizes many tools to help flush out what can be changed at home or biologically to reduce the risk of future decay.  Our first step is to always figure out what you can start (or stop) doing at home to decrease future risk.  Sometimes it’s as simple as flossing a two-year-old for them because we see that the teeth are close together.  Sometimes it’s a more difficult battle like eliminating certain food and drinks from the diet. 

Reviewing homecare factors and individual factors (such as the pH of the mouth, the quality and quantity of saliva, and medications to name a few) will add or decrease from the baseline risk.  It is important in the initial diagnosis of decay that ALL potential reasons for decay are reviewed.  Let’s face it, treatment is just one aspect of the decay process.  Getting down to the reasons why and what we can do to mitigate that risk is just as, if not more, important.
The truth is, many factors may be responsible for why children are getting decay.  An important thing to consider is that if either parent has a history of decay and/or active decay (untreated areas of cavities), your child’s risk increases greatly.  Cavities are a communicable bacterial disease. 

Even though the initial cavity diagnosis can be harrowing, we will work with you in a judgment free zone to restore oral health and work with you to combat the disease as best we can to prevent future decay.  

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