Pedodontics is a word of Latin origin and means "children's teeth" in Turkish. Pedodontics, also known as Pediatric Dentistry, is a branch of medicine where studies are carried out to ensure healthy and natural dental development in children.
What is Pedodontics?
Pedodontics; It is a main branch of science that deals with issues such as the health and protection of milk teeth and permanent teeth in children between the ages of 0-13, and the elimination of dental problems such as caries and trauma.
Starting from infancy; monitoring and control of children's oral and dental health, facial and jaw development is within the scope of pedodontics.
In addition to these procedures, all procedures such as taking preventive measures in children and young people, meeting oral dental needs and applying the necessary treatments are carried out by pedodontic dentistry.
Importance of Milk Teeth
Milk teeth, which usually start to erupt 6 months after birth, are 20 in total and it takes until the age of 2.5 for all the teeth to erupt. Milk teeth are anatomically and structurally different from permanent teeth and are less resistant to decay and abrasion. The main purpose of deciduous teeth is to help the child feed and speak. At the same time, these teeth also have the task of replacing the permanent teeth.
A decaying or infected deciduous tooth causes pain during feeding, which can lead to the development of various malnutrition-related problems for children.
Therefore, the health of deciduous teeth in children is important both for the preservation of the aesthetic appearance and health of the mouth and for the normal development of the child. Another risk of decaying deciduous teeth is not being able to hold the necessary space for the permanent teeth that will come in the future, as a result, unhealthy deciduous teeth are an important risk factor for future oral space constrictions.
Milk teeth in the mouth begin to fall out between the ages of 6 and 12, during which time permanent teeth and milk teeth coexist. The presence of decayed deciduous teeth in the mouth during the mixed dentition period adversely affects the health of the newly emerging permanent teeth. For this reason, it is important to protect children's dental health properly and to apply preventive treatments on time. The person who performs these applications is called "pedodontist".
What are the Duties of a Pedodontist?
The main purpose of pedodontists is to prevent dental problems that may occur in children and to apply the necessary preventive treatments. The situations that fall within the job description of the pedodontist are listed as follows:
- Prevent children from developing fear of dentists
- Providing information about oral and dental health to both the family and the child
- Shaping children's eating habits
- Eliminating problems that can cause tooth decay
- Preventing dental caries with preventive practices
- To apply the necessary endodontic and restorative work
- Applying preventive orthodontic treatments
- Controlling child jaw and tooth development, eliminating existing problems
- Preventing unhealthy oral habits such as finger sucking and pencil biting
- Pulling milk teeth
- To control the relevant follow-up and treatment stages in children with dental trauma
- To perform placeholder prosthesis applications when necessary
- Performing conditions requiring special attention or surgery under sedation and anesthesia
Gaining awareness about oral and dental health at a young age is important for dental health in later years. For this reason, children's dental health should be regularly checked by specialist pedodontists and related treatments should be applied on time.
