Sherwood Park Dental is proud to serve families across Sherwood Park and its surrounding area. We are a family dental clinic, specializing in the care and treatment of children all the way to seniors. Like a pediatric dentist in Sherwood Park, we routinely treat toddlers, children and teens. Unlike a pediatric dentist, you won’t be dismissed on your 18th birthday or when all of your adult teeth have come in. This family dentist in Sherwood Park wants to support your oral health for the long run! The best dental clinic for you will be the one that evokes the most trust from the whole family.
How Do I Find the Best Dentist Near Me?
Looking for a dental clinic near your Sherwood Park residence? The magic of technology means you don’t have to trust friends or colleagues to refer you to the “best dentist in Sherwood Park” – all you have to do is use simple search terms in Google like “dentist near me” or “best dentist in Sherwood Park”. The results will provide you with a list of dentists in your area which you can filter if you’re looking for a dentist open weekends in Sherwood Park or a dentist open evenings in Sherwood Park, for example. From there, you can begin to read through the websites and reviews of the dental clinic in Sherwood Park that most appeals to you. Note that this also applies if you are in crisis and need an emergency dentist in Sherwood Park – simply change the search terms to see the nearest emergency dentist.
When Should My Family Start with Their New Sherwood Park Dentist?
Great question and the answer is – right away! Babies can be seen for dental checkups as soon as they pop their first tooth. At Sherwood Park Dental, we recommend that families come in with their young children, even if they aren’t seeing the dentist that day. This helps your child feel calm in this new environment and watching parents or siblings having routine cleanings helps quell fears.
If your youngest child has not sprouted any teeth to date, you can still begin caring for their oral health. Since babies have a sensitive gag reflex, getting used to the idea of having something foreign in their mouth reduces gag reflex and is helpful when eventually moving on to pureed foods. You can wipe your baby’s gums twice daily with a warm wet cloth. When teething, a cool cloth to chew on can be very satisfying for your little one.
As your baby sprouts new teeth, you may begin to use a tiny baby’s toothbrush with a smear of fluoride-free toothpaste to clean the tooth or teeth in the morning and again at night. Your Sherwood Park dentist should advise you of when it is appropriate to introduce your child to fluoride toothpaste. This is typically when the child learns how to effectively spit the toothpaste out rather than swallowing it.
Modelling excellent oral health routines at home reinforces the importance of caring for our teeth and makes it an expected part of each day. Get younger children to hold their own toothbrush while they watch their older siblings brushing their teeth, or have older children check their youngest siblings’ efforts. Children who struggle to brush their teeth effectively may benefit from an electric toothbrush or from tablets. Tablets dye any area of the mouth that has plaque on it and makes it easy to see whether they’ve done a good job or not. Purple teeth mean keep brushing!
Early Nutrition
Children’s teeth, by their nature, have a thinner enamel shell than adult teeth which means that they are more at risk for cavities and gingivitis. Part of looking after your family’s oral health includes managing their diet to ensure that they are getting appropriate nutrition. Food habits are difficult to change once you’ve been raised in a home that did not prioritize the quality of their food. This can lead to an excess consumption of sugars and starches over time which puts your child’s teeth at risk. Keeping sweets to a minimum and eating a whole food diet is the best way to ensure your overall health, but in our busy reality moderation and a good brushing and flossing routine really is key.
It is widely recognized that putting babies to bed at night with a bottle of juice or milk can have serious consequences for the child’s oral health. Sugars in these drinks wear away at the enamel throughout the night and can produce early dental cavities. Instead, babies should be offered only water through the night in order to ensure the health of their teeth. It is important to care for baby teeth as well as adult teeth since baby teeth have the capacity to impact the health and placement of adult teeth when they emerge.