It is beautiful to have a toddler at home, whether they are your child, young sibling, niece, or nephew. The thought of being responsible for them is exciting and exhausting sometimes. One of such responsibilities you are to pay close attention to is their oral hygiene. Dental sealants have their role to play to help you achieve this goal for your toddler.
The teeth of a child are always at risk of bacteria, plaques, and infections, even a child’s newly erupted milk teeth. This is because their teeth are still forming; they are not yet resistant to bacteria. Adult teeth are firmer, and they are permanent unlike those of children. They can get damaged by any small provocation or hardness.
In a child’s mouth, the teeth that are more prone to bacteria and decay are the molars; this is because of how they are located. The molars are found at the back of the mouth or the farthest end of the mouth. They are rough unlike the other parts of the teeth that are smooth. These molars are more prone to getting food particles stuck on them. They are made up of little or tiny grooves, which are referred to as pits and fissures. It is in them that food particles get stuck.
Irrespective of how strong the bristles of a toothbrush can be or how excellent you can be at flossing, it is quite difficult to do a thorough cleanup of the molars with your toothbrush and dental floss especially for a toddler for whom you cannot use hard bristles or use pressure while brushing their teeth. But you cannot go wrong when you apply dental sealants to your toddler’s teeth.
What Are Sealants?
Sealants serve as a form of protection from cavities. They are usually made of plastics and are coated to the surface of the teeth. They are mostly placed on the surface of the molars at the back because they are more prone to bacteria and infections due to the extent to which food particles are usually stuck there.
The role of the sealant when applied on the child’s teeth is to help smoothen those rough surfaces of the molars by sealing them up. As long as those molars are smooth and sealed, food particles cannot be found there. Bacteria and plaques are less likely to build upon a tooth that has been sealed with sealants. Although, this does not mean that you can minimize the oral hygiene routine of brushing and flossing.
Some persons mistake sealants to be a substitute for brushing and flossing, but that is a misconception. Sealants are no substitute for making your toddler for the daily oral routine; they only add to it and help prevent their teeth from developing cavities. They also help prevent an escalation of tooth decay when they arise.
These sealants are very good for children especially toddlers. You will agree that as an adult it is quite technical to make use of dental floss, especially on your molars. The molars are the hardest parts of the teeth to floss when it comes to flossing for a toddler. Although at that age, they may have not grown their complete sets of teeth, flossing could still be done for them to instill an oral hygiene habit in them.
The Importance Of Sealants For Toddlers
Sealants, as we have said earlier, take the form of being protective shields for the teeth from cavities. They are more useful to toddlers than they are to adults. This is because, because it is quite hard to have a toddlers teeth flossed regularly, of which failure to do that may eventually lead to poor oral hygiene, but, we can make use of sealants to help protect their teeth from decay before they come of age to take full responsibility of maintaining healthy oral hygiene.
Sealants are very important for your toddler and may be recommended by the toddler dentist when they realize that the toddler’s molars have deep grooves that may eventually lead to tooth decay in the future. These sealants are not visible. They have the resemblance of natural teeth.
You may be wondering if your toddler can bear the pain from the sealant or not. The truth is there is no pain attached to applying sealants to the teeth. Sealants are one of the painless dental treatments you can have, both for you as an adult or for your toddler. I will also like to add that the application of sealants to the teeth is quick as well.
Find a reliable toddler dentist who is very good at applying sealants to toddlers’ teeth. All it takes is for the toddler’s teeth to be washed and dried by the dentist, after which he/she would apply an acidic gel on the teeth before applying the sealant so it can get stuck to the teeth. The entire process is painless and reliable.
The good news is that these sealants last for a long time, with regular visits to the toddler’s dentist; they will have a look at the sealants to check how well it is performing its role on the teeth. If the dentist sees a need to re-apply the sealants, the dental specialist will do so.
You should also be aware that after the sealant has been applied to the teeth, the bite and speech of your toddler will change a bit, this is normal because an addition has been made on the teeth. There is absolutely nothing to worry about because everything will return to normal with time as the sealants gradually blend with the teeth.
Conclusion
Dental sealants are very helpful and are useful to both toddlers and adults. One way to prevent cavities from forming in your toddler’s teeth is by fixing an appointment with your toddler’s dentist and have them apply sealants to their teeth the moment the dentist recommends it. Tooth decay can be prevented when you act fast. It is so relieving to know that the best toddler dentist in Weston is very reliable, so there is no need to fear.