Dental prophylaxis

In simple words, in the case of children, dental prophylaxis is prevention of dental caries as well as certain actions aimed to maintain oral health.

Oral hygiene should be maintained from the eruption of the very first teeth. It is worthwhile teaching your child to brush his or her teeth daily – with a toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste, 2 or 3 times a day, preferably after every meal. Around the age of 7 you may enhance the daily oral hygiene with a dental floss and mouthwash.

Oral hygiene routine:

Brushing
Flossing
Rinsing with mouthwash

We also provide dental prophylaxis in our dental practice. We offer the following services for our young patients:

Fluoride treatment – consists in coating the teeth with a fluoride varnish. The doctor “paints” every tooth with a brush dipped in the varnish. Drying off, the varnish leaves on the teeth a layer lasting for up to a dozen or so hours, which allows to prolong the time of releasing the fluoride ions into the tooth structure. The fluoride treatment strengthens the enamel and makes the teeth more resistant to tooth decay. The fluoride treatment should be given to children every three months. The procedure is completely painless.

Dental sealants – the procedure consists in sealing the dental grooves with a special light-cured resin. Dental caries most often develops in the grooves, i.e. on the chewing surfaces, as food particles often reside there. As regards our little patients, we seal the grooves in permanent back teeth, i.e. premolars and molars. A sealant should be applied to a new tooth within a few months of its eruption at the maximum. The treatment is painless.

Preventative check-ups at a dentist, allow to assess the child’s oral health. The doctor checks if the teeth grow properly and if a child is not at risk of dental caries. He or she also assesses the degree of enamel mineralisation and verifies the brushing technique.

To increase their effectiveness, the fluoride treatment and dental sealants should be applied after all the teeth have been cleaned professionally of plaque with the use of a prophylaxis toothbrush and toothpaste.