The carious process in children develops very similarly to similar processes in adults, but there are certain features that must be taken into account during the diagnosis of the disease and its subsequent treatment:
- Mineralization of tooth enamel is low, and dentin tubules are wider, which entails the rapid progression of caries;
- Very often, caries occurs in those children whose body is less resistant to this kind of disease, because it has suffered from a variety of infections;
- Children's caries involves a multiplicity of lesions, often affecting a large number of primary teeth at once;
- There are special forms of the disease, in an adult there are no such kind of planar caries (only the surface of the tooth is affected, and caries does not go deep), circular caries (the tooth is ring-shaped, which can lead to deformation of the tooth crown;
- Even significant defects in the dental tissues may not be accompanied by any symptoms;
- The disease can begin to develop immediately after the deciduous teeth are erupted.
After childhood caries is detected, it must be treated immediately, moreover, comprehensive measures should be aimed both at eliminating the current disease and protecting it from its repeated occurrence. Thus, only visits to the dentist are not enough and you need to treat your teeth at home, using oral hygiene products. For children under the age of four, a conservative treatment option (enamel silvering of caries) may be recommended. The area of damage from which softened dental tissues and plaque were removed is treated with a special solution. Less of this option, the child’s teeth will stain in an unpleasant dark color.
Enamel fluoridation
Another conservative method that our Clinic offers is the fluorination of tooth enamel. In this case, the tooth is covered with fluoride compounds, which allows you to restore damaged enamel prisms. The minus of manipulation is the need to repeat it repeatedly, which is difficult for a small child. The most typical option is the treatment of the resulting carious cavity using composite quick-setting materials. However, children are afraid of working tools, which somewhat complicates the activities of doctors. Modern dentistry is ready to offer a good alternative to standard techniques, what is chemical preparation. The dentist introduces special substances into the cavity that soften the damaged dental tissue, and then with the help of tools he cleans the tooth and places the filling manually, without using a drill.
Of course, children during the treatment of caries need full pain relief, since manipulations of this kind can be quite painful. As a rule, a specialist uses local type anesthetics, but in particularly difficult cases or during manipulations to remove a tooth, a full anesthesia administered intravenously may be required.