Children’s Dentist in Castle Rock
Kid’s Dental Checkup & Teeth Cleanings
Cowlitz River Dental strives to be a complete family dentistry practice. That’s why we offer children’s dentistry for the young members of your family, helping to protect their precious smiles from cavities and injury. We want your child to grow up with a strong smile, which is why our children’s dentistry treatments include dental sealants and fluoride treatments. Don’t wait until your child is older before bringing him or her to our Castle Rock dental office for a children’s dentistry checkup – the sooner you begin bringing your child to the dentist, the more at home he or she will feel with us.
Your Child’s First Dental Visit
Children’s dentistry can begin between the ages of 1 and 3, or whenever the first baby tooth erupts and your child can handle a short trip to the dentist. Some children tolerate the dental office better at earlier ages than others. You know your child best, so you can make that determination. However, we definitely recommend a children’s dentistry visit no later than the age of 5. When you bring your child in for the first visit, we’ll count his or her teeth, check for any signs of problems such as baby bottle decay, provide you with guidance for home care, and gently clean the baby teeth. Baby teeth do eventually fall out, but proper care of these teeth is still important. They act as guides and placeholders for your child’s adult teeth, and proper development requires that they remain healthy and intact until it’s time for adult teeth to come in. Let us help your child maintain healthy baby teeth with an early initial children’s dentistry visit to Cowlitz River Dental in Castle Rock, WA.
Dental Sealants and Fluoride Treatments
Dental sealants are a dental rite of passage for children’s dentistry. When your child’s adult molars come in, we may coat the grooves in the chewing surfaces with white or tooth-colored material, which can prevent cavity-causing plaque from forming in the hard-to-clean crevices on the tops of molars. Dental sealants may be useful on your adult teeth too, so if you’re interested in the added cavity protection, ask us about them at your next checkup.
Fluoride provides a different kind of cavity protection. The outer layer of teeth is called enamel, and the stronger the enamel, the lower the risk of cavities – and fluoride strengthens tooth enamel. While your child should be using fluoridated dental care products at home, we can provide the extra boost of in-office fluoride treatments during children’s dentistry visits for even greater protection from cavities.
If you would like to make an appointment for your child at Cowlitz River Dental, give us a call. We enjoy seeing kids at our Castle Rock location – it makes the office more fun! We help families living in the surrounding communities in southwest Washington and northwest Oregon too.