Paediatric Dentistry

You can give us a call or drop in to fill in a registration form for you and your children at your convenience.

All our staff are trained in working with nervous patients and will do their utmost to put children at ease.

We can offer tours of the surgery and provide all kinds of comforts such as playing their favourite music or audiobooks while they are seen.

We only get one set of adult teeth, so it is crucial to look after them to the best of our ability.

Getting children into the habit of visiting the dentist from an early age, along with teaching them good dental care and hygiene is the best way to ensure that their teeth have the best possible chance to remain in good conditions for their entire life.

Familiarising your child with the dentist is the most effective way to encourage regular visits into adulthood and to avoid introducing dental anxiety later on.

Even before your child’s milk teeth start growing through, you can bring them along to the surgery to help them become acclimatised to the surroundings and to enable the dentist to start his or her oral care right from the beginning.

Once the teeth have started to come through, six-monthly check-ups will enable the dentist to keep an eye on their development, positioning and condition.

Bad oral health can cause a raft of problems for a child.

From bad breath, cavities and gum disease to more serious concerns such as pain and tooth loss, insufficient oral care can result in serious concerns.

Additionally, bad oral health has been linked to cancer, diabetes and heart disease in later life, sop the benefits of ensuring good dental habits from a young age really are manifold.

Paediatric dentistry covers all areas of tooth, mouth and jaw care for children under the age of 18, starting from infancy and the appearance of the first milk tooth.

Paediatric dentistry covers oral care and hygiene, preventative dentistry, treatments such as fillings, root canal work and tooth extractions and corrective and cosmetic work such as fitting braces, tooth straightening and whitening.

The length of time it takes to compete a filling on a child will depend entirely on the state of the tooth and how large the cavity being filled it, as well as the position of the tooth, the experience of the dentist and how anxious or calm the patient is during the procedure.

Your children’s dentist will be able to give you a better idea of the timings involved for your specific case during your child’s consultation.

It is perfectly natural for both you and your child to feel anxious before a tooth extraction.

The best way to prepare is to speak to your dentist or dental nurse about the procedure so that you have all the facts and will know in advance what will happen and when.

Tell your child the truth, while avoiding alarmist or over-emotional language and emphasise the benefits of the treatment and how much better they will feel afterwards.

Try to remain calm yourself and help them manage their anxiety in whichever way works best for your particular child and their situation. Your dentist can offer further advice in this area.

After a tooth extraction or any similar dental procedure, it is very important to treat the mouth with great care afterwards.

Avoid eating or drinking anything hot and stick to soft foods, such as yoghurt, smoothies or (lukewarm, not hot) soup. Avoid ice cream too, or anything with an extreme temperature, as this can cause sensitivity as the mouth begins its healing process.

Try not to eat on the side of the mouth where the tooth extraction has taken place and consult your dentist if you have any concerns at all about your child’s aftercare.

The right age to visit an orthodontist will depend entirely on the reason why your child is being referred to the service.

Many children being tooth straightening treatments, such as braces or aligners in their pre-teen or early teenage years, but again, this can vary enormously.

Your dentist can advise on the suitability of orthodontic treatment and whether your child is old enough to tolerate it and take responsibility for the associated after-care.

Root canal work can be a long and complicated process; however, this can be mitigated by a number of anaesthetic procedures, including local or general anaesthesia or sedation.

The decision about whether the child is old enough to cope with such a procedure must be taken by the dentist and the child’s parents or caregivers on a case-by-case basis.