Tooth Whitening System

By: Steven Brazis

Dental problems range in their degree of seriousness. The following tips can prove helpful:

Dental problems in children could be hereditary. Regular brushing and flossing may not be enough to prevent serious cavities. Consult your dentist to correct the problem while your child is young.

Heredity affects hardness of enamel, size, and shape of teeth and jaws. Problems may require dental restorations or orthodontic intervention.

Children now do not always have to wear painful braces and metal wires to correct irregular teeth. There are various dental corrective appliances available in plastic. Dentists now advise dental corrections at a young age.

It is now easy to fill dental cavities. Dentists have more choices for filling teeth. Materials for filling teeth include composite resins rather than the traditional silver-mercury alloy. Composite resins are bonded and hence, fillings do not have the tendency to pop out. Resins are available in a range of tooth colors.

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Although most people would not consider cavities an issue for children who don’t even have all of their teeth yet, scientists and researchers are now warning of early childhood dental decay is a significant health problem.

“We need to get the message out that this is the most common chronic infectious disease in children and it’s on the upswing,” said Alexandra Hall, a dental hygienist and coordinator for the Eastern Shore Children’s Regional Oral Health Consortium. “It’s totally preventable but we need parents on board.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the percentage of children between 2 and 5 with dental cavities has increased from 24 percent from 1988 to 1994 to 28 percent from 1999 to 2004. children even younger than that are having problems with cavities, Hall said. She said because the Eastern Shore is a rural, underserved area, dental decay in young children is an increasingly large problem.

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