Building Trust

At Smiles Dentistry for Kids, we understand how stressful a visit to the dentist can be for both the child and the parent. Each visit your child makes to the dentist has the potential to alter her future attitude toward dentistry. Our goal is to give your child a positive experience that will leave her feeling great about oral health.

Specialized Team

Studies suggest that many adults with dental anxiety developed it at an early age. This is often the result of a stressful dental visit. At Smiles Dentistry for Kids, our goal is not to complete treatment no matter what, but to help your child develop into a lifelong dental patient. Our specialized team has the knowledge and experience to accomplish this goal. This often requires spending extra time with your child or in some cases the use of appropriate sedatives such as nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Please remember that it is very important to discuss your child's previous dental experiences with Dr. Matt so he may provide your child with the best possible care.

Office Environment

For many people, memories of going to the dentist aren’t all bad, but you may remember the smell and the boring grays and sterile whites. Here at Smiles Dentistry for Kids, we use bright, friendly colors, cartoons, and video games to make families feel right at home. This first impression that children have when they walk into the office for the first time can impact how the visit will go.

Nitrous Oxide

Why?

Sometimes a child may feel anxious during dental treatment and may need more support than a gentle, caring manner to feel comfortable. Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) is a safe, effective method to calm a child's fear of the dental visit.

What Is Nitrous Oxide?

Nitrous oxide is a blend of two gases, oxygen and nitrous oxide. When inhaled, it has a calming effect, making your child more comfortable.

Is It Safe?

Nitrous oxide is perhaps the safest sedation available in dentistry. Your child remains fully conscious and keeps all natural reflexes while breathing nitrous oxide. Normal breathing of oxygen eliminates the gas from the body within minutes. So there are no residual effects after leaving the office.

Disadvantages

Nitrous oxide is not effective for some children, especially for very young children or those who have severe anxiety, nasal congestion, extensive treatment needs, or discomfort wearing a nasal mask. In these situations, it may be necessary to use another form of sedation.

IV Sedation

Why?

For children who are very young or who have severe anxiety or extensive treatment needs, we often recommend this route of treatment as it provides a safe and effective way to complete dental procedures without creating a future full of dental fears.

What Is IV Sedation?

This form of sedation is known as “Deep Sedation” or sometimes “Twilight Surgery.” A specialist in anesthesia performs this while Dr. Matt completes dental treatment.

Is It Safe?

Yes. Any time you administer drugs to an individual you create some level of risk; however, the medicines used are well studied in the medical world and used regularly without complications.

Advantages

This method of treatment protects a child’s developing psyche and allows us to complete all treatment needs in a single visit.

Disadvantages

In some cases cost may be a limiting factor, but often times, the benefits outweigh this disadvantage.

Hospital Dentistry

Why?

For children who are very young or who have special medical needs, severe anxiety, or extensive treatment needs, we may recommend this route of treatment as it provides a safe and effective way to complete dental procedures without creating a fear of dentists. This mode of treatment may be an alternative to the IV sedation.

What Is General Anesthesia?

A specialist in anesthesia performs general anesthesia at Children’s Mercy Hospital. This method provides the deepest level of “sleep” for our patients.

Is It Safe?

Like IV sedation, there is always some inherent risk involved in general anesthesia.

Advantages

Some children with lung disease and other medical issues may be best treated in the hospital where we have a whole gamut of resources available as these children carry a slightly increased risk for complications.

Disadvantages

In some cases cost may be a limiting factor, but often times, the benefits outweigh the disadvantage.

Post-Treatment Concerns

Many of our procedures require us to use local anesthetic in order to keep your child comfortable during treatment. Although many patients process the local anesthetic differently, you can expect for the effect to last 1 1/2 hours - 4 hours.

While the anesthetic is present, children may have difficulty eating and drinking. Some children find this sensation frightening while others don't seem to mind at all.

It is important to remember that while children are numb, they may play with their lips and cheeks with both their fingers and their teeth. In these circumstances, they can create severe bleeding, swelling and ulcerations in their mouth without even knowing it. If this occurs, you should keep your child on a soft diet to prevent re-injury and provide children's Motrin or Tylenol as indicated on the bottle.

Fillings and Crowns

Following treatment your child may have some discomfort around the teeth that were fixed. In most cases children's Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Advil (ibuprofen) at the dosage recommended on the bottle will alleviate the pain. If your child continues to have discomfort after 24-48 hours or the pain is severe and not alleviated with medication, please call the office immediately. This may be a sign of a more serious problem that should be evaluated by the doctor.

It is not uncommon for children to experience a little bleeding around the gums after placement of crowns. Quite often, the bleeding occurs while brushing teeth for a couple of days after treatment. Should this occur, have your child brush more gently in the area until the gums have healed.

If your child develops swelling after treatment, it is likely a result of lip/tongue biting of the numb area. If, however, the swelling appears to be getting larger and there are no signs of teeth marks, please call the office immediately to discuss the situation with the doctor.

Space Maintainers

After placement of space maintainers, children may experience some discomfort (tightness). In most cases children's Tylenol or Advil will alleviate the discomfort. If the space maintainer comes loose and can easily be removed, please take it out, place it in a safe place and call us immediately so we can evaluate it for re-cementation. If the space maintainer is only a little loose, leave it in place and call us as soon as possible.

If you notice that a permanent tooth is coming into the space, it means it's time for us to remove the space maintainer. Call us to make an appointment for an evaluation and removal.

Remember to avoid sticky foods and to brush very well around the space maintainer to ensure a long life for the appliance.

Extractions

It is not uncommon to have pain or discomfort following an extraction. Most pain is alleviated with children's Tylenol or Advil. If swelling develops or the pain is not alleviated with medication, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss the situation with the doctor.

Bleeding is normal after an extraction, but excessive bleeding is not. If your child appears to be bleeding excessively, apply direct pressure with gauze for 15 minutes. If this does not seem to work, try applying a moistened black tea bag to the area. If you are unable to stop the bleeding, please call our office immediately to speak with the doctor.

“Bellyache”

Sometimes, after a cleaning, children may develop a “bellyache”. This is often a result of ingesting the toothpaste. Not to worry … Give your child a glass of milk and he should feel better in minutes. If your child continues to feel ill, give us a call and we will be happy to talk to you.