TREATMENTs

Treatment under General Anaesthetics. Some of the treatments performed on children may involve:

Extractions

The removal of teeth. Normally local anaesthetic will be administered to the area, resulting in numbness for approximately 2 hours. It is important that during these two hours the child does not traumatise their lip or cheek in any way.

Space Maintainers

Space maintainers hold the space for the new tooth to come through if a tooth has been removed in the back of the mouth for young children. This is so that adult teeth coming through may grow normally without being impacted and presenting with further problems.

Root Canal Treatment or
Nerve Treatment

This treatment is required if the nerve for a particular tooth has been affected. The nerve chamber is cleaned of all decay before the root filling is placed. If the nerve is not cleaned out, an infection may result, leading on to an abscess. This would cause further pain and may affect the permanent tooth.

Stainless Steel Crowns

Stainless steel crowns will be recommended if your child has hypoplastic (chalky) teeth which are structurally quite weak, or if the decay has taken away most of the tooth. These metal crowns are an all over protection for the tooth, and act to help increase strength, durability and prevent further decay. These teeth will resemble a stainless steel baby tooth, and will observe the same timeline as a normal baby tooth.

Anterior Crowns or Composite Crowns

Composite crowns are often used on the teeth in the front of the mouth. In terms of their uses, they are used for much the same reasons as stainless steel crowns. The only difference is that tooth coloured resin is used so that it resembles an actual tooth.

Fissure Sealants

Fissure seals are a non invasive protective coating over the tooth as a simple preventative measure for decay. Normally these seals are recommended for teeth with very deep grooves, or fissures, as food particles may easily be caught in these areas and are hard to clean out. When the fissure sealants are put in place, the chances of decay on that tooth may be minimised.