Coral Gables Kid Friendly Dentist

Children’s Dentist Coral Gables, FL

As with our family dentistry services, at Bushdid Smiles in Coral Gables we work to provide the most comprehensive menu of children’s dentistry services. Dr. Jose Bushdid and his team want children to benefit from a lifetime of good oral health care. With this in mind, we take extra special care of children, so we can develop a reassuring and reliable relationship. Moreover, we seek to help you help your children by discovering any developmental concerns and addressing them early in order to prevent future problems.

At Bushdid Smiles, we initially care for children's teeth and gums with regular checkups. At these dental checkups-and as with adults, we want to see children at least twice every year for these visits-we clean their teeth and remove any plaque buildup, assess the health of their gums and other soft tissue, examine their teeth carefully for early signs of decay and when needed, we take digital x-rays to find any hidden spots of decay or concerns lying below the gum line. Of course, if we find anything, then Dr. Bushdid will want to treat with expediency, whether that means repairing a cavity with a tooth-colored filling or instructing your children how to better brush and floss their teeth.

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What You Should Know – Orthodontist and Orthopedics

Dr. Bushdid is a firm believer in early treatment. Therefore, we practice phase I and phase II orthodontics and orthopedics. If your young child has crowded teeth, noticeable gaps, or other malocclusions, then by treating these conditions sooner rather than later we can redirect oral development, making future treatment shorter and less difficult. Phase I care may promote better jaw development, reduce risks of future trauma and TMJ problems, improve speech and breathing and possibly even eliminate the need for braces in the future.

As children mature and their permanent teeth erupt, phase II treatment makes sure that every tooth from root to crown is in the right place. Crooked teeth, gaps, uneven bites, and much more can be corrected with braces and oral appliances. As with phase I, it’s best to start this phase as early as possible in order to better prevent TMJ disorder, tooth extraction, or even oral surgery later.

Dr. Bushdid and his team are dedicated to the health and beauty of your smile and the smile of everyone in your family. If you would like to learn more about children’s dentistry at Bushdid Smiles, then call our office in Coral Gables today to schedule an appointment.

Resources You Can Use at Home

In addition to visiting our kid friendly dentist office, it is important that you practice good oral hygiene at home and teach your child to do the same. In our dental office, we work with a lot of children under age eight and understand how challenging it can be to get them excited about brushing teeth. Kids are busy and asking them to stop riding bikes, building Legos, or playing dress up to brush their teeth can lead to conflict fairly quickly. We get it. At Bushdid Smiles, we can work with young children and are under no illusion that they are fascinated by oral health. Our job, however, is to change their opinion of dental care and show them that it can be fun and interesting. This way they will want to brush and floss their teeth, even without being told. With that in mind, we have a few resources that we have found to be helpful and suggest that you try them at home.

If you live in or around Coral Gables, we invite you to schedule an appointment with our dental office so that we can examine your child's teeth and teach them how to brush properly. Even if your child is already brushing, there is a good chance that they are doing it wrong and missing a lot of the plaque that has built up on their teeth. A simple video tutorial is a resource you can use at home. You can find one on the American Dental Association's website or even on YouTube. Playing a video that shows your child how to brush is a good reminder for them and, since they are used to receiving information this way, they are likely to receive and digest it better than if you reminded them.

Once your child is brushing correctly, it is time to turn your attention to how long they are brushing for. At Bushdid Smiles we encourage all of our patients to brush for two minutes, twice a day, regardless of how old they are. This, however, can be difficult for young children that find it hard to focus on a task or to stay still. As a kid friendly dentist, we want them to brush their teeth but staying still isn't a requirement. Try making it fun to brush teeth by playing their favorite song for two minutes and letting them dance and brush. You can also play a two-minute video clip or cartoon for them while brushing. The American Dental Association has an entire section of their website devoted to these short videos and watching them will get your child used to brushing for the full two minutes. We have worked with families throughout the Coral Gables area and have found that using media works far better than standing there with a stopwatch. The goal is to create positive associations between dental care and having fun so that your child will continue to brush their teeth as they grow.

Check out what others are saying about our family dental services on Yelp: Kid Friendly Dentist Coral Gables

Prevention

As a kid friendly dentist office in Coral Gables, we are focused on preventative care. It is far better for your child to visit us for a regular teeth cleaning than to only see us with a toothache. Fortunately, by using preventative care methods we can help your child to avoid experiencing any dental discomfort. In addition to cleaning their teeth, one of the ways that we do so is with dental sealant. Many children have deep ridges in their teeth. When they bite down and chew food, bacteria, food particles, and plaque can become trapped in those ridges and eventually they will create tooth decay. These areas are particularly difficult to clean with a toothbrush alone, so even the most fastidious of parents may find it challenging to keep cavities at bay. By using dental sealant, a protective layer is placed onto the teeth so that nothing can become stuck in these ridges. The procedure is painless and fast since all we need to do is brush a material onto the teeth and allow it to harden. At Bushdid Smiles, we have found this to be a simple way to prevent our young patients from getting cavities.

Regular Fluoride Treatments

Another tool for prevention is our regular fluoride treatments. We recommend that all children have this throughout their teenage years. If you aren't on public water, this is particularly important for preventing cavities. Statistically, if your child has a fluoride treatment in our dental office, their risk for getting cavities decreases by thirty percent. This is significant when you are considering the overall health and well-being of your child. With that in mind, we use whatever tools are at our disposal to ensure that your child is as healthy and as comfortable as possible both now and as they age. If you live in the Coral Gables area, we invite you to schedule a dental exam by calling (305) 740-1443.

Definition of Family Dental Terminology
Dental Caries
Dental caries are also known as cavities and result from a lack of proper oral hygiene leaving plaque that forms tiny holes in the teeth.
Dental Sealants
Dental sealants are a solution of plastic material that we apply to the crown of the tooth to protect the areas within the ridges of teeth from infection.
Dental Prophylaxis
A dental prophylaxis is a thorough cleaning procedure that involves preventing the spread or continued growth of periodontal disease and gingivitis.
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a doctor who specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity.
Etchant
Etchant is a gentle acid to treat the surface of a specific tooth to help the filling material stick to the tooth.
Occlusion
Occlusion describes the mandibular and maxillary rows of teeth meeting when the patient bites down. If a patient does not have a healthy bite, they are struggling with malocclusion.
Overjet
An overjet is a bite orientation that results from the maxillary central incisors (top center teeth) protruding over the mandibular central incisors (bottom front teeth); this may also be known as “buck teeth” by patients.
Pregnancy Gingivitis
Pregnancy gingivitis is gingivitis that results from the common change in hormones during pregnancy that increases blood flow to the gum tissue, increasing sensitivity, irritability and swelling in the gums.

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