What Is the Difference Between a General Dentist and a Pediatric Dentist?

What Is the Difference Between a General Dentist and a Pediatric Dentist?

As a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your child’s teeth remain as healthy and strong as possible. While it is naturally important to inform and educate yourself on simple oral hygiene techniques and habits that you should integrate into your child’s lifestyle, in some cases, you may need the help of a specialist dentist. Typically, you should take your child to a kids dentist New Mexico 87107 at least once every six months. This will allow a dentistry to develop a history of your child’s teeth, and help them diagnose a tooth problem or condition far more accurately.

The environment

Choosing the right dentist to go to for your child is a decision that cannot be made lightly. A child’s first visit to a kids dentist New Mexico 87107 can certainly be a frightening experience for them. This is why it is always important to choose a dentistry that has experience in dealing with such issues. A general dentist is one that sees patients of all ages. As such, the clinic itself will not be particularly designed to ease the fears of a first-time child visitor. Pediatric dentistry clinics, on the other hand, deal exclusively with child-related teeth problems, and as such, may represent a better option for your child.

However, it can be cumbersome to have multiple dentists for different needs. As such, if you have children of different ages, you may be wise to select a kids dentist New Mexico 87107 who can also take care of the oral needs of all members of your family. However, it is important to make sure that your family dentist is experienced and qualified in dealing with teeth of children of small ages.

Treatments

For routine dental check-ups, there is really no difference between visiting a general dentist or a pediatric dentist. Either one is more than capable of providing simple remedies in the form of fluoride supplements to strengthen teeth, or speak to children regarding the right foods to eat, the frequency with which to brush one’s teeth and other such issues.

However, pediatric dentists differ from general ones in the kind of training they have. A pediatric dentist is required to undergo at least one to two years of extra training than a general dentist. These dentists are trained to deal with children who have major tooth-related problems. Some children have teething or tooth-related problems at the very earliest of ages, that require them to visit specialist dentists far more frequently than others. In such cases, a pediatric dentist may be the ideal option. Pediatric dentists are trained in performing procedures that take into account the different stages of teeth development in children.

Bedside Manner

Another key difference between pediatric dentists and general dentists is that of their bedside manners. While there is no general rule, a pediatric dentist’s increased exposure to children, compared to that of a general dentist, will mean that they will have more knowledge of how to manage children who may be frightened. As such, pediatric dentists are usually better at making children feel comfortable at the dentistry.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Thursday October 16 2014, 3:27 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0