- Common Dental Disease In Children
- DenSure Clinical Dentistry for Kids
- DenSure Preventive Dentistry
- Dental Glossary
The two most common dental problems in children are:
- Dental Cavities
- Crooked Teeth
Both these diseases are essentially life style diseases and most often dental cavities of baby teeth leads to the problem of crooked teeth in children.
Dental Cavities
The most common reason for dental cavities are excessive sugar in diets of children (Refined sugar as part of chocolates, candies, ice creams, biscuits – essentially all sugar containing sticky food stuffs)
However the starting point for dental cavities in kids very often is prolonged and careless milk feeding habits (both breast and bottle feeding) by mothers. Feeding milk to babies at night when the babies are sleepy leads to collection of milk for a prolonged period of time leading to destruction of baby teeth. This is called as nursing bottle caries. Once dental cavities appear they keep spreading from tooth to tooth. Associated with this is the utter neglect by most parents who share the common misconception that baby teeth are temporary in nature and therefore do not require attention. This ignorance of parents causes immense harm to the baby because unattended cavities lead to severe pain and infection.
Crooked Teeth
Unattended milk teeth with large cavities leads to their early loss which is one of the most important causes for crooked teeth in children. In addition modern day children spend more time on sedentary activities such as watching television, playing computer games etc. unlike children of the past who used to participate more in sports activities. This sedentary life style of children makes them mouth breathers leading to poorly developed respiratory system (Nose, Lungs). This again increases the severity of crooked teeth.
Image GalleryOnce dental disease strikes your child, be assured that he/she shall remain a patient for a life time.
Although treating dental diseases has never been the priority of DenSure, the clinical setup does have state of the art facilities to provide the best of treatment procedures for already existing disease.
The following procedures are performed routinely:
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Dental fillings – for baby teeth: Small cavities of baby teeth are frequently neglected by most parents thinking that the baby teeth are temporary. However cavities in milk teeth spread fast leading to infection and pain. Therefore small cavities can be filled with fluoride releasing tooth color materials to prevent further spread.
Treatment charges: Rs 300 ~ 500/- (Depending on size)
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Root canal treatment for baby teeth: Although milk teeth are temporary teeth, they serve very important functions in the oral cavity, such as chewing, speech and appearance. Hence they should be preserved till their replacement by permanent teeth. Calcium content is less in milk teeth. Hence, once cavities are initiated, if not intervened at the earliest it leads to rapid spread of decay. As a result the child suffers from pain, infection and sometimes swelling associated with fever. Intervention at such a late stage is difficult both for clinician as well as child and the parent due to invasiveness of the procedures involved. However the disease needs to be treated, failing which child’s overall nutrition, growth and underlying permanent teeth will be affected.
The steps involved in the management of such deep cavities involves cleaning of the cavity and the roots of the teeth followed by filling. This procedure will have to be done under local anaesthesia. Otherwise it can be very painful for the child.
Treatment charges: Rs 1500 ~ 2000/-
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Stainless Steel Crowns: These are metal crowns which are indicated following root canal treatment for baby teeth, as the teeth are significantly weakened and susceptible to fracture after this procedure. They are also indicated in the case of multi surface and large cavities on teeth, in teeth predisposed to cavities due to less calcium and children with high caries risk.
Treatment charges: Rs 1750/-
Image GalleryBack teeth of kids (molars) are usually replaced between the 9th – 12th year of the child by their permanent successors. Therefore a tooth with a crown should last till this age ideally.
The entire focus of the DenSure model of dentistry is to prevent dental disease in children.
DenSure has two plans of preventive dentistry for children
- DenSure Basic Plan – Helps prevent dental cavities in your child
- DenSure Plus Plan – Helps prevent dental cavities plus crooked teeth in your child
DenSure Basic Plan (Birth to 6 years)
The basic plan is applicable ideally for all children right from birth. In this plan a customized protocol is designed for your baby to protect him/her against dental cavities. This plan involves regular visits to the dental clinic (6 to 8 visits a year).
Charges for DenSure Basic Plan: Annual charges ranging from Rs 1200 ~ 1500/- (Per year - all inclusive)
"ALL DENTAL CAVITIES ARE TREATED FREE* FOR CHILDREN COVERED BY THIS PLAN"
Preexisting disease treatment is not covered
- Milk teeth are temporary in nature, why should I protect them?
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Healthy milk teeth are the surest way of ensuring healthy permanent teeth. Any disease of milk teeth increases the risk of disease in permanent teeth.
Once a patient will always be a patient
Hence "Prevention is better than cure"
DenSure Plus Plan (Applicable to children between 6 to 9 years)
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Who is the right candidate for the DenSure Plus plan????
If your child is 7 / 8 / 9 years old, keeps his mouth open in sleep, while watching television, playing video games etc., then your child is very likely to develop crooked forwardly placed teeth with associated jaw bone problems.
It is very easy to correct these problems at the starting stage itself and DenSure Plus precisely does that. However conventionally the approach of most dentists has been different.
Conventional management of crooked teeth
- Conventionally children with crooked teeth are made to wait till their 14th year by most dentists and then advised for braces (Orthodontic) treatment. Unfortunately many of the habits such as mouth breathing, tongue thrusting, thumb sucking become deep-seated leading to severe jaw bone discrepancies and major tooth alignment problems. This delayed intervention means that the challenge for the Braces Doctor (The Orthodontist) is very tough.
Advantages of braces treatment
- Science of orthodontics can bring about magical change in the personality of patients.
- It requires minimal cooperation of the child patient.
- It has been the only method of correction of crooked teeth for so many years.
Disadvantages of braces treatment
- Braces treatment helps about in the correction of crooked teeth but facial changes may not be possible, because the growth of the child is already complete.
- Braces and wires on teeth for long periods ranging from 18 ~ 24 months means maintenance of oral hygiene is a mighty challenge. Therefore there is increased risk for dental cavities.
- In order to bring about proper alignment of permanent teeth, up to 4 healthy teeth may have to be removed/sacrificed to create sufficient space.
An early start either to prevent / intercept the problem of crooked teeth through the DenSure Plus concept therefore is ideal.
In this plan the child is covered for prevention of:
- Dental cavities
- Crooked teeth
This plan also entails regular visits (6 to 10 visits a year) to help prevent both dental caries and crooked teeth. The facial growth of the child is constantly monitored and individualized treatment plans are designed depending on the requirements of every child patient to ensure normal growth of jawbones and proper alignment of teeth along with preventing cavities.
Charges for the DenSure Plus plan: Rs 20,000 ~ 26,000/- (Total package for 3 – 5 years)
Advantages of DenSure Plus plan.
- Early identification and correction of faulty oral habits such as mouth breathing, faulty swallowing, thumb sucking etc helps the child to grow normally.
- The single biggest advantage of this plan is that it protects the child against the two most common dental diseases in children that is dental cavities and crooked teeth.
- Early correction means the children grow into very pleasant personalities.
- The DenSure Plus plan helps the child to be disease free for a life time.
Disadvantage of both DenSure Basic and DenSure plus plans.
- The single biggest disadvantage of this plan is that it requires more than 100% cooperation of the parent and the child patient. Although every procedure under both these plans is 100% pain free, cooperation on a daily basis is the key for success.
Therefore admission to the DenSure Basic and DenSure Plus plans would be at the sole discretion of the DenSure team after assessing the cooperation and motivational levels of both the child patient and the parent.
Specific terms and conditions for both these plans will be explained by our counselling team before registration.
DenSure Plus Vs Conventional management of crooked teeth
In the DenSure Plus plan because of the early start the focus is only on "Prevention" and not "Forced Correction". Once all faulty habits are corrected, natural growth by itself becomes the solution for proper alignment of crooked teeth. Hence you have a child with healthy well aligned teeth and with a very pleasant personality too. This early correction means that it is "Permanent" too.
No permanent teeth are extracted in the DenSure Plus plan, thereby helping in stable correction.
Now last but not the least, all procedures under DenSure Plus are pain free.
The success of the DenSure model of preventive dentistry however depends on the mutual cooperation and motivation of the: (Treatment triangle)
- Parent
- Child patient
- The DenSure dentist
Note: In the event that the DenSure Plus plan fails in a particular child he/she always has the option of undergoing orthodontic treatment, the success of which will be far more stable because bad oral habits such as mouth breathing have been corrected early.
"For all children on the DenSure Plus plan who may end up requiring finishing orthodontic (Fixed braces) care. DenSure offers a 50% waiver straight away..!!!! on orthodontic treatment charges."