Children and adults are vastly different in terms of the care they need and how they react during procedures. For these two reasons, pediatric oral care is a specialty craft and one we excel at offering. In addition, you can have the confidence to turn to us for dentures and emergency care as well. For top-quality family dentist visits, visit our office.
Pediatric Dentistry
While every dentist achieves their bachelor's degree and performs a one-year residency, pediatric hopefuls continue learning further. To be licensed, they require an additional two years of training that general dentists lack. This additional training includes:
- Child behavioral and psychological study
- Treatment of developing teeth
- How to properly handle a child
- Understanding child growth
- Learning how to care for special needs children
In a pediatricians' care, your child will be in expert hands. Since they have more experience caring for children, pediatric dentists should be the only ones caring for children. A driving factor in this is child behavior and psychology.
A significant hurdle to overcome in child dental care is their fear, anxiety, and lack of experience. To do so, it's just as important to explain what's happening as providing quality care is.
In addition, the scenery is different as well. Pediatric dentists go to great lengths to ensure that their offices are friendly, inviting, and comfortable. A big step in this is scaling down handheld equipment to ones designed with children in mind. Not only are the tools smaller, but they're also less scary and more comfortable.
Lastly, there is more of an emphasis on teaching. We find that children are often underprepared to care for their teeth independently. Our team takes pride in teaching children how to brush, floss, and maintain their teeth for as long as possible.
Adult Dental Care
We dedicate more time to prevention efforts in youth than in adults. Sadly, age dictates this shift in ideology. However, there is more than just this shift that transforms your experience as you age:
- May not have kid-friendly tools
- More mature office
- Different education and skillsets
To start, general dentists have less schooling due to their lack of child specialty. After their four-year bachelor's program, they need just one year of residency training in the state they choose to practice. Beyond the fifth year, there are no more requirements, but some may choose to.
Maturity comes with the tone of the office. While comfort is still a focus, they aren't catering to the fears or inexperience of youth. Instead, a greater emphasis is on cutting-edge technology such as CEREC and Cone Beam machines.
Family Dentistry
Think of this as the middle ground between two molar opposites. Family dentistry combines the best qualities of both worlds to ensure they're ready to treat a patient regardless of age. Doing so can allow the entire family unit to be seen and cared for on the same day.
Family dentists don't differentiate between adults and children in terms of time devoted to education. No matter what brought you in, you will leave with new knowledge on caring for your chompers. Not only that, but family dentists tend to have a long list of services they offer, such as:
- Whitening and bleaching
- Bonding and fillings
- Clear Aligners
- Crowns, bridges, veneers
- Extractions
- Periodontal maintenance
- TMJ correction
This can streamline finding a dentist for your entire family. It isn't uncommon for general dentists to refer a child to a pediatrician. In a similar vein, family dentists have a high likelihood of treating most conditions in-house, reducing the need for a specialist for most cases.
Looking For a Quality Family Dentist?
With four beautiful locations, we hope we can see you at one of them. Regardless of your local office, each of our four teams is relentless in their pursuit of patient comfort and satisfaction. Be sure to contact one of our offices to set your family's first appointment.