Pediatric Dentist Services in Bradenton and Sarasota
Although most periodontal treatment is provided to adults, there are occasions when children and teens need certain periodontal procedures.
Schedule a pediatric dental exam for your children with us today.
Gentle and Effective Periodontics Dentistry for Children and Teens
Most children and teens rarely need gum disease treatment, but occasionally you might find that your child needs to see a pediatric dentist. Children sometimes need correction of gum and soft tissue situations that are the result of other factors. A pediatric dentist can perform periodontal procedures on young persons to assist orthodontic treatment. Some teens with fully developed jaws can receive dental implants for missing teeth.
Attentive and Comfortable Children’s Dentistry
Drs. Ryan, Tyler and Thomas Rubino are highly trained and experienced in all periodontal procedures your child would need. They know that children require a delicate touch, and provide treatment in a gentle and reassuring manner while ensuring your child is always as comfortable as possible.
We always make sure both you and your child understand what is going to be done and answer all questions before any procedure begins. In this way, your child can relax and you can reassure them as needed.
You Can Attend the Exam Visit
The doctors conduct a complete new patient exam on all children and teens coming to our office for possible treatment. You are welcome to accompany your child during the examination.
You and your child will be included together in treatment discussions so you both can fully understand what is to be done and have your questions fully answered. Once treatment begins, you may sit with your child in the treatment room until the procedure actually starts.
Procedures for Children and Teens
Below are the main procedures performed for children and teens.
Tooth exposure for orthodontics
Certain teeth, such as canines, occasionally fail to erupt (break through the gum line) and move into their proper position on the dental arch. An orthodontist will need to have the crown of this tooth exposed in order to move the tooth into its correct place in your child’s smile.
Drs. Ryan, Tyler, and Thomas Rubino assist the work of the orthodontist by gently exposing the crown of an unerupted tooth and attaching an orthodontic bracket to it. This will then allow the orthodontist to correct the tooth’s position with standard orthodontic treatment.
Accelerated Orthodontics
Accelerated Orthodontics (Periodontally Assisted Osteogenic Orthodontics, or Wilckodontics) is a treatment that can be performed on any teen who has all their permanent teeth and is receiving orthodontic correction with conventional braces. A quick and simple perform a quick and simple procedure on your teen’s jaw bone will be performed that greatly reduces resistance to tooth movement.
This allows the orthodontist to rapidly and safely change the position of your teenager’s teeth up to four times faster than is possible using braces alone. With Accelerated Orthodontics, your teenager can achieve full corrective results in about seven months as opposed the 18-36 months it would take with conventional braces alone.
Learn more about Accelerated Orthodontics treatment from your pediatric dentist.
Gum grafting services for receding gums in children
Children and teens will sometimes have an area of gum recession as a result of orthodontic treatment or other factors. This exposes the tooth roots, leaving them susceptible to damage and decay, and jeopardizes their long-term health. Your child’s pediatric dentist can gently restore the gum line around the tooth roots with minimally invasive gum grafting procedures.
Learn more about how your pediatric dentist can perform Gum Recession treatments.
Recontouring the gum line
Occasionally the gums swell up and change their bordering lines around the teeth after orthodontics, causing the gum line to become uneven and excessively cover certain teeth. Gum lines around the teeth can also be uneven due to genetics. Recontouring the gum line around the teeth will give your child’s gums a new aesthetic and symmetrical look.
Fixing a gummy smile
Occasionally a person’s gum and bone tissue cover more of the crown of the teeth than usual and make the teeth look short. This is what gives someone a “gummy smile.” Although it can make a person very self-conscious and cause them to not want to smile, it also makes it very hard to clean the teeth completely or treat any decay that might develop.
For teens that have a gummy smile, a pediatric dentist can gently remove the excess gum and bone tissue covering the crowns of the teeth, and recontour them so the teeth are evenly bordered. This makes the teeth look their normal size in relationship to the gums and gives your teen a healthy, natural-looking and nice smile.
Correcting an oversized frenum
The frenum, or frenulum, is a small fold of tissue that connects two parts of the inside of your mouth and limits the motion of one of the parts. The frenulums are found on the inside center of your lips and in the center of the underside of your tongue.
When the frenulums are too strong or too large, they restrict motion too much. An oversized frenum under your tongue will make it difficult to speak or chew food properly. Oversized frenulums in your lips can pull against the gums in the jaw (where the frenum is attached) and cause the gums to recede. For teenagers, an oversized frenum can also cause problems with orthodontic treatment.
When a pediatric dentist determines it’s needed, the size and strength of the frenum can be reduced and thus bring its motion-limiting function back to normal.
Dental implants for teens
Sometimes a permanent tooth is lost during the teen years due to injury or other causes, and occasionally there is a baby tooth for which no permanent tooth was ever formed. A dental implant can be placed for teens who have a missing permanent tooth and whose jaws are fully grown.
A dental implant is a titanium post inserted into the jaw which functions as a replacement root for a missing tooth and forms the foundation for a restorative dental crown. The implant and crown feel and function just like a regular tooth and are the strongest and most lifelike of all tooth replacement options.
A dental-implant-supported replacement tooth provides the chewing pressure needed to prevent bone loss in that space. It will keep the adjacent teeth from shifting position, which if not prevented could adversely affect your teen’s bite. Dental implants have many major advantages that make them the gold standard of tooth replacement options.
Ask your pediatric dentist about dental implants, and learn more here.
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