Pediatric Dental Care in Euless, TX
At HEB Family Dentistry, we offer gentle, compassionate dental care for children. Dr. Ro is our very own in-house childrens dentist.
Oral Sedation Dentistry
If your child is very young, has special needs, or is afraid of the dentist, we may recommend oral conscious sedation. This type of sedation works well to calm patients and eliminate any anxiety or discomfort they might feel about their dental appointment. Dr. Ro will go over your child’s medical and patient history to determine the appropriate type of medication to use for conscious sedation. As the name suggests, your child will remain conscious with this sedation option. Some patients feel so relaxed that they may even become drowsy or fall asleep. If you would like to know more about sedation dentistry, please don’t hesitate to ask. We are happy to answer any questions about how it works and how it can help.
Hospital Dentistry
Some children may be deemed unsuitable for conscious or IV sedation. If that is the case with your child, we offer outpatient general anesthesia, also referred to as hospital dentistry. Dr. Ro will provide the necessary dental treatment in a hospital or outpatient setting, and an anesthesiologist will administer the anesthesia. Throughout the procedure, the anesthesiologist will be there to monitor the patient and make sure everything is okay. Under general anesthesia, your child will be asleep, and we’ll be able to perform treatment efficiently.
Pediatric Dental Treatments
HEB Family Dentistry offers a variety of pediatric dental services.
Composite Restorations
One of the biggest problems we see with our young patients is cavities. We use tooth fillings made of composite resin to fill in dental cavities and prevent further decay. We can also use them for dental bonding with front teeth. The major benefit of composite fillings is that they are tooth-colored. Instead of having to deal with the noticeable appearance of amalgam, or silver, dental fillings, these are made to look just like real tooth material.
Pulp Therapy
Pulp therapy goes by many names, including nerve treatment, children’s root canal, and pulpectomy/pulpotomy. When it comes to children’s teeth, pulpectomies and pulptomies are the most common.
During a pulpotomy, we remove any diseased tissue from inside the tooth and place an agent to prevent further growth of bacteria. This agent also calms the nerve tissue. Once all of that is complete, we place a restoration, most often a stainless steel crown, to strengthen the tooth.
A pulpectomy is similar, but, instead, we completely remove the pulp within a tooth, not just the portion in the crown. We then clean and disinfect the root canal and place a final restoration. Pulp therapy is an important procedure to make sure teeth are kept healthy so your child doesn’t have to lose them prematurely.
Stainless Steel Crowns
If your child has a severe or large cavity, we may need to use a stainless steel crown to save the tooth. A dental crown essentially “caps” the tooth to help it retain full-function and prevent even more tooth decay. Besides keeping a tooth healthy, having a dental crown prevents losing the primary tooth early, which can lead to spacing and alignment problems as your child’s smile develops.
We use stainless steel crowns as they are easy to place on primary teeth, and they are pre-manufactured so it takes just one appointment. That means your kid doesn’t have to miss more school to get the treatment they need! Plus, stainless steel crowns are very durable, easy to take care of, and more affordable than adult dental crowns.