Children at Lightwood
At Lightwood, our aim is to help parents to look after young teeth and prevent decay. Our Preventive Dental Unit (PDU) has been developed to motivate children – our specially trained Oral Health Educators and hygienists work closely with each child to help develop good long lasting habits for the future.
Our PDU is designed to benefit both children & parents. We aim to create an understanding of what causes decay and to identify the initial signs in your child’s teeth. We educate children, parents and grandparents about dental plaque and explain about prevention through cleaning and polishing.
As part of the program, we provide practical tooth brushing exercises and demonstrate how to use oral hygiene products including the use the correct brushes and dental floss.
For those children at risk of tooth decay, we introduce a comprehensive selection of therapies to help reduce the effects of decay and to strengthen unaffected teeth. These include saliva tests, diet analysis and hereditary factors.
Children’s Fillings
If, for whatever reason a child needs a filling, then we use materials which are more suited to treating first teeth. We like to put young ones at ease before and during their appointment and we will often play their favourite TV program on a screen above them!
Fissure Sealants
What are fissure sealants?
Fissure sealants are white composite coatings that are painted onto the biting surface of the adult back teeth.
Why are fissure sealants recommended?
The top surfaces of adult back teeth is where the chewing takes place. These surfaces are not smooth, with small grooves called fissures. To prevent decay getting into the fissures we can seal them off with a resin which reduces the risk of decay by about six times when compared to a teeth without fissure sealants.
At what age would we advise fissure sealants?
The adult molars should have been completely erupted into the oral cavity with matured enamel. On average, this is around 6 years of age.
How is a fissure-sealant placed?
The tooth ready to be fissure-sealed will be cleaned, then etched with a blue gel and thoroughly rinsed with water. The tooth is then dried thoroughly & a thin-flowing resin material is applied into the fissures and hardened with a special blue light.
