I am a Pediatric Dentist

Because your patients deserve to be

cavity-free!

  • Unique products formulated just for kids
  • Control the infection while they are young and give the gift of a healthy smile for life
  • Make raving fans of even your littlest patients

 

Pediatric Dentistry

Dental caries is the #1 childhood disease,

5 times more prevalent than #2 which is asthma

Depending on the geographic location and socio-economic level of your patient base, you may struggle with controlling a disease where our traditional “treatment methods” only band-aid the symptoms.  It is sad that in this age of technology children are still suffering from an epidemic such as dental caries.

The latest research on the caries infection has now identified a few key concepts:

 
  • This infection is not pathogen specific, it is a biofilm disease and there are now 23 identified strains of bacteria, any combination of which may contribute in an individual.
  • pH is the strongest “selection pressure” that determines whether these cariogenic strains are present at pathogenic levels.
  • There are some key risk factors that can determine our patients’ susceptibility to this infection.
  • The greatest risk factor for a child is the caries risk status of their primary caregiver.

The other paradigm shift taking place is the wide-spread understanding that drilling and filling cavities, or placing crowns and veneers, is not sufficient in treating this disease.  Dr. John Kois states that “caries risk assessment identifies patients at risk for dental caries even before they have expressed the disease and best targets treatment for those patients that have already expressed the disease. We need to find ways, like CariFree, to help our patients move from the repair model to the wellness model.”

 

Solutions for Your Practice

 
  • Familiarize yourself with the ADA’s caries risk classification guildelines.
  • Develop a simple risk assessment protocol to determine your patients’ susceptibility to dental caries. This will allow you to prescribe products that can treat the caries infection and prevent cavities from forming.
  • Take a look at the products you currently recommend and whether they work to treat the caries infection or just remineralize the damage.
  • Take special consideration for the pH of products as neutralizing products encourage healthy bacterial growth.









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