Despite every parent’s best efforts, it’s still extremely common for children to develop cavities or sustain dental injuries. At The Dental Specialists, if your child requires some smile repair, we won’t guilt trip you, but rather focus on solutions and restoring your child’s oral health and appearance. From minor chips to large cavities and everything in between, whatever life throws at your child’s smile, we’re ready to help you fix it, and our options for restorative dentistry in Garland, TX will make it seem like the problem never happened in the first place.
You likely know that regularly exposing your child to fluoride is great for strengthening their teeth and lowering their cavity risk, but what is silver diamine fluoride? This substance is applied directly to active cavities as a way of killing the harmful oral bacteria while also preserving the remaining enamel. This offers a fast, drill-free way to treat dental decay, which our young patients certainly appreciate! It can also lessen extreme dental sensitivity due to thinned enamel.
Most of the time, a cavity only damages the outermost layer of a tooth, or enamel. But, if a cavity is left untreated for a long time, or if a crack develops, bacteria can reach the interior of a tooth and infect the sensitive pulp tissue. When this occurs, a terrible toothache is usually the result, but we can stop the pain and save the tooth with pulp therapy. This involves numbing the tooth and then carefully removing the infected pulp while leaving any healthy portion behind so the tooth can function and develop normally.
If your child has a severely broken or decayed tooth, a composite resin filling may not be enough to repair the damage, but don’t worry! We may still be able to save it from extraction. We can restore the tooth’s strength and appearance using a stainless steel crown or a NuSmile crown. These options are completely safe for their mouth and allow your child to keep the natural tooth, regain function, and keep smiling!
For minor cavities, nothing takes care of them faster than tooth-colored fillings. After the decayed enamel has been removed from your child’s tooth, we’ll apply a composite resin to replace the loss structure. It will be customized to match the surrounding enamel, resulting in a restoration that’s practically invisible. These fillings require less enamel to be removed during placement compared to traditional metal ones, which in turn helps a tooth maintain its natural strength, leading to a longer-lasting repair.