Dental Treatment for Kids

Preventative and Restorative Dentistry

• Fillings: Fillings play an important role in maintaining your child’s health. Unfilled cavities never go away and get bigger with time. When the decay is removed from a tooth, it is replaced with “filling” material. We offer white Tooth-Colored fillings. Tooth-colored fillings let your child have fillings that match their existing teeth, giving them a brilliant, whiter smile!
• Pulp Therapy: Damage to your tooth’s inner nerve tissue sometimes requires treatment of the pulp. Pulp Therapy involves removing the soft tissue within the tooth – the pulp – when it has become infected and inflamed. Your dentist gently removes the infected tissue out of the root canal of the tooth and fills the canal with a biocompatible material. This allows your child to loose the tooth naturally in the future. The procedure is completed with the placement of a filling, or a crown. Because your child’s comfort is our priority, our team offers various levels of anesthesia and sedation therapy to keep them relaxed.
• Tooth Extraction: Keeping your child’s teeth is the best and preferred solution. In the instance that a tooth has too much damage to be repaired, it may be recommended to extract the tooth. Postponing or forgoing a recommended tooth extraction may lead to complications, pain, and additional costs. Feel confident that your child will be comfortable and relaxed as their extraction is done, in office, by a dental team they are familiar with.
• Crown: Your child may require a crown if a large portion of the tooth is destroyed due to decay or trauma or if your child is at high risk for decay in the future. Crowns, also known as caps, slide over teeth to hide cracks, discoloration, or imperfections and bring the tooth back to its natural shape and size. We offer both silver and tooth-colored crowns and you may discuss with us what the best option would be for your child.
• Partial Dentures and Space Maintainers: A partial denture is sometimes needed if a child’s teeth need to be pulled due to an injury or tooth decay. A partial denture is created to replace those teeth and prevent the existing teeth from moving. The denture is non-removable and designed to fit comfortably and blend in with any remaining teeth. This type of denture is made from a synthetic material that is supported with a lightweight metal. It mimics their gum tissue and teeth to create a natural looking smile while still remaining functional.
  
• A space maintainer is needed when a child’s baby tooth is lost early. The spacer helps all the other teeth stay in the correct position and is very important to your child’s future smile. Without a spacer, your child’s teeth will shift and as permanent teeth try to erupt, there will not be enough room for a straight beautiful smile.

Cosmetic Dentistry

Dr. Kricket offers a variety of options to keep your child’s teeth looking natural and healthy, even when extensive treatment has been completed. We make every attempt to maintain the original tooth and can rebuild it with a composite (white colored) filling or white crown.

In the unfortunate circumstance of early tooth loss, we offer replacement teeth that also look natural and continue to allow your child to function in a normal manner. Call Pediatric Dentistry, LLC for specialized care.

Baby Wellness

At Pediatric Dentistry, LLC, we see children of all ages – often beginning at birth. We specialize in the newborn frenectomy of the tongue to release the tongue tie and aid in nursing and “latching on”.

We recommend your first trip to our office by your child’s first birthday to not only check on your child oral health, but most importantly to educate you on their future growth and development. We like to take this time to answer all your new baby questions and help you grow your child’s smile into a beautiful one.

Sedation

Many young children are apprehensive about the dentist and the treatment involved. Dr. Kricket and staff offer a variety of ways to complete your child’s dental needs in a calm and gentle manner. For the slightly nervous patient, we are able to offer nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to help them complete their treatment needs in a comfortable and relaxed manner.

Nitrous oxide is a very safe and effective addition to the child’s overall treatment plan. For those children who are either too young to use nitrous oxide or too apprehensive, we offer sedation dentistry. Our sedation dentistry is completed in a very safe manner, and best of all the child doesn’t remember a thing! For those children with special needs or health problems, we do have two facilities we use to provide general anesthesia.

So, no matter your child’s degree of apprehension, we can get their dental needs taken care of. The degree of sedation is discussed with you with the doctor’s recommendation and your input to determine what would be safest and the best for your child.

Special Needs Patients

Dr. Kricket’s residency training was in a hospital setting in a special needs facility. She spent 2 years learning and treating children with various health problems and disabilities. Each special needs child is treated on an individual basis, with comfort and safety taken into account. We encourage your participation and information in helping us secure your child’s dental health.

Transitional Orthodontics

The specialty of Pediatric Dentistry, LLC focuses on the Growth and Development of your child's smile, with the outcome being a straight beautiful smile. Dr. Kricket focuses on using your child's growth through the developmental years and will often recommend a procedure or appliance to help them ultimately reach that "straight" smile without the use of traditional orthodontics. This approach saves both time and money.