Protecting your child’s teeth from injury
Where most childhood dental injuries actually happen, and what helps.
Prevention
Most childhood tooth decay is preventable
Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood in North America. It is also close to entirely preventable, which makes this the part of our work we would most like to make unnecessary.
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From age oneFirst visit by the first birthday
Open SaturdaysCheck-ups without missing school
Two ways inOur prevention program, or a referral
Why it matters
A problem found early stays a small problem
Preventive dentistry at Children’s Dental Health Centre means regular examinations, cleanings, fluoride varnish, sealants and practical guidance on diet and brushing, starting by your child’s first birthday. Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood in North America and is largely preventable. Joining this program is how most families become patients here.
A cavity caught at a check-up is a small filling. The same cavity found eighteen months later can mean a crown, a nerve treatment, or a general anesthetic. Nothing about the tooth changed in between except how long it went unseen.
That is the whole argument for regular visits. Twice a year, thirty to forty-five minutes of nothing much happening, so that the difficult appointment never has to be booked.
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What a visit includes
What a check-up is really for
Not every child needs every one of these at every visit. You will hear which ones apply to yours, and why.
A full examination
Every tooth, the gums, the bite, the soft tissue and how the jaw is developing. This is where a problem gets caught while it is still small and simple to fix.
Cleaning and polishing
Plaque and tartar lifted out of the places a toothbrush at home can’t reach, gently and at your child’s pace.
Fluoride treatment
A varnish painted onto the teeth that strengthens the enamel and helps reverse early decay before it becomes a cavity. It takes about a minute.
Sealants
A thin protective coating over the deep grooves of the back teeth, where most childhood cavities start. No drilling and no freezing.
X-rays when needed
Only when there’s a reason, using digital sensors at the lowest practical dose. They show decay between teeth, and adult teeth still under the gum.
Habits and diet
Practical guidance on brushing, flossing, bottles, sippy cups, snacking and sport. Built around the household you have, not an ideal one.
How often
Most children are seen twice a year
Most children
Every six months
Enough to catch decay while it is still small and to track how the adult teeth are arriving. This is where the majority of children sit.
Higher risk
Every three months
For children who have had cavities before, wear appliances, have a medical condition affecting their mouth, or whose enamel formed differently.
First visit
By the first birthday
Or within six months of the first tooth. Short, gentle, and as much about getting you the information as examining your child.
The idea behind it
What a dental home means for your child
A dental home is the relationship between a child and one dental practice that holds their whole oral health over time, rather than a set of visits to whoever is available. Both the Canadian Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommend establishing one before a child’s first birthday.
It matters because dentistry for children is mostly about change. What a tooth looks like today tells us far less than what it looked like six months ago. A practice that has seen your child since they were one knows the difference between how their teeth have always been and something new.
- Comprehensive Everything your child needs is in this building, from a first check-up to sedation and surgery. Nobody gets sent elsewhere the moment something turns complicated.
- Continuous The same practice over years, so we know what your child’s mouth looked like last time and the time before. Change is what tells us something is wrong.
- Accessible Open six days a week including Saturdays, at two locations. This program is how most families become patients here.
- Coordinated Multidisciplinary care, arranged for you. If your child needs a physician, a specialist or the Alberta Children’s Hospital, you don’t have to make that connection yourself.
Between visits
What matters most is done at home
At thirty to forty-five minutes a visit, two check-ups a year come to an hour or two in total. The rest of the year is yours, and it counts for more than we do.
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Brush twice a day, and do it for them longer than feels necessary
Most children don’t have the fine motor control to brush properly until around age eight. Letting them have a go and then quietly finishing the job yourself isn’t undermining their independence. It is how the teeth actually get clean.
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Use fluoride toothpaste, in the right amount
A smear the size of a grain of rice under age three, and a pea-sized amount from three up. Spit, don’t rinse. Rinsing washes away the fluoride you just put on.
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Start flossing once two teeth touch
A brush can’t get between two teeth that are touching, and that gap is exactly where decay starts out of sight.
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Watch frequency more than quantity
Sugar matters less than how often it arrives. A dessert eaten in ten minutes is easier on teeth than a juice cup sipped across an afternoon, because every sip restarts the acid attack.
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Nothing but water in the bottle at bedtime
Milk, formula and juice pooling around the teeth overnight, when saliva flow drops, is one of the most common causes of early childhood decay we see.
The cheapest filling is the one nobody needed
Two visits a year, sealants where they help, and habits your child keeps. Book a check-up at either clinic, six days a week.
Watch
A minute on protecting your child's teeth
Questions
What parents ask about prevention
How early does prevention start?
At the first birthday, or within six months of the first tooth appearing, whichever comes first. Both the Canadian Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommend that timing. That first appointment is short, and most of it is about getting your child comfortable and getting you the information you need. Nobody is hunting for problems in a one year old.
How often does my child need a check-up?
Every six months for most children. Some need to be seen every three months, usually because of a higher risk of decay, a medical condition, or how their teeth are developing. You will be told which applies to your child and why. Nobody here goes on the same schedule as everybody else by default.
What are dental sealants and does my child need them?
A sealant is a thin protective coating painted into the deep grooves on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth. Those grooves are where the large majority of childhood cavities begin, because a toothbrush bristle is wider than the groove. Applying one involves no drilling and no freezing. They are most useful on the permanent molars, which arrive around age six and again around age twelve.
Is fluoride safe for children?
Yes, at the doses used in dental treatment and in toothpaste. Fluoride varnish applied at a check-up is a small, controlled amount painted directly onto the enamel, and it is recommended by the Canadian Dental Association, the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Canadian Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (CAPD) and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. If you have concerns about fluoride, bring them to the appointment. You will get a proper conversation about it, not a brush-off.
Do baby teeth really matter if they are going to fall out?
They do, for three reasons. They hold the space for the adult teeth coming in behind them, so losing one early can crowd what follows. Decay in a baby tooth can reach the nerve and hurt exactly as much as it would in an adult tooth. And an infection in a baby tooth can damage the permanent tooth developing above it.
Does my child need x-rays at every visit?
No. We take x-rays when there is a clinical reason to, not on a fixed schedule. We follow the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) principle, which means using the smallest amount of radiation needed to answer the clinical question. When we do take them they are digital, which uses a fraction of the radiation of older film, and your child is shielded. We will explain what we are looking for before we take any.
My child already has a cavity. Is prevention still worth it?
More than ever, and a cavity is not a verdict on how you have been looking after your child. A child who has had one is at higher risk of the next, which is the point where prevention stops being routine and starts being the thing that changes what happens next. In practice that means more frequent visits, fluoride, sealants on the teeth that are still healthy, and a proper look at diet and brushing.
Can we become patients without a referral?
Yes. This program is exactly how a family becomes a new patient here, and it needs no referral from anyone. A referral is what we ask for in the other situation: when your child already has a general or family dentist and you want a specialist consultation about one specific concern.
Questions about coverage, direct billing or the Canadian Dental Care Plan? Ask when you book. You’ll have the answers before anything is scheduled.