F.A.Q. - Frequently Asked Questions
At what age should children start cleaning their teeth?
How many times a day should our teeth be cleaned?
What toothbrush is the best?
What toothpaste is the best?
What is the correct way of cleaning teeth?
How do we know whether our teeth have been properly cleaned?
Use of dental floss: from what age, how many times a day, what kind of floss?
What should our diet look like?
Use of fluoride tablets and other fluoride products?
Dental visits, timing of your child’s first dental visit?
Preparing your child for a dental visit?
Use of anesthetic, safety of use and useful effects?
Use of RTG scans.
Multi-session treatment.
What is an implant?
Will my body accept implants?
   
At what age should children start cleaning their teeth? Cleaning teeth starts from the appearance of the first tooth. A toothbrush is not used, but teeth are wiped once or twice a day with a bundle of cotton wool or gauze soaked in water or unsweetened tea.
Children can use a toothbrush with their parent’s help only when all baby (first) teeth have grown. Parents should teach their children how to brush their teeth through play, however, without using a toothpaste.
After the third year of life, a toothpaste can be used. Its taste and ingredients need to be suitable for the child’s age.
Only when children start school, can we expect them to be able to brush their teeth independently. However, they will still need supervision, since they do not understand the importance of cleaning teeth, and therefore always look for ways of avoiding this duty. top How many times a day should our teeth be cleaned? One rule states that teeth should be brushed after each meal, but ours and our children’s everyday obligations do not allow us to follow this rule. Fortunately, it is sufficient to brush our teeth twice a day, in the morning after waking up or having breakfast, and after the last evening meal. top What toothbrush is the best? The best toothbrush is the regularly used toothbrush.
It is essential that the size of a toothbrush is adequate for a child’s age. Fortunately, nowadays, a wide range of toothbrushes is available, and we only need to look around.
When first starting to clean a child’s teeth, a soft-bristled toothbrush (SOFT – S) should be used. This is to prevent hurting children’s sensitive mouth and to make brushing teeth as pleasant as possible. Children’s attention can be easily attracted by various toothbrush shapes, making it one of their favourite toys.
When a child starts school, we should move to a medium-bristled toothbrush labelled M – MEDIUM, and use it for the rest of our life, except in some special conditions.
The cost of a toothbrush does not always match its quality, and we can sometimes achieve the same results with the cheapest toothbrush. We recommend the following manufacturers: ORAL B, PIAVE, BUTLER.... top What toothpaste is the best? Toothpaste is used from the third year of age. It should be mild with various tastes to attract child’s attention. Fluoride-containing toothpaste is used from the age of three.
In later ages, it is important that the toothpaste contains a sufficient amount of fluoride, which is the case with all toothpastes today. Therefore, we do not need to worry too much about the choice of toothpaste.
COLGATE products are of the best quality in this group. top What is the correct way of cleaning teeth? The most popular description is that:
? Upper teeth are brushed using the ’falling rain’ movements, while
? Lower teeth are brushed using the ’growing grass’ movements.
It is necessary to brush all surfaces, the outer ones, those used for biting, but also the inner side of teeth.
The teeth brushing technique can be enriched by some other elements, but only after these simple instructions have been mastered. top How do we know whether our teeth have been properly cleaned? Patients often complain that their problems persist in spite of regularly cleaning their teeth. The easiest way to avoid this is to check how well we clean our teeth, by using the product that paints over dental plaque.
The product is called VIDIPLAK, and can be purchased as drops or tablets.
After your teeth have been cleaned, it is enough to chew a little Vidiplak tablet, which is totally harmless both for you and your child. The remaining plaque will change colour, showing whether your teeth have been adequately cleaned. top Use of dental floss: from what age, how many times a day, what kind of floss? Cleaning teeth properly and regularly is only one aspect of adequate hygiene. Complete oral and dental hygiene cannot be achieved without the use of dental floss.
Flossing should be a regular part of children’s hygiene since the age of ten. However, in the beginning, flossing is done with a parent’s help, and only when a child completely masters the flossing technique, can it be used independently.
Since the majority of children of that age are not sufficiently serious and do not understand the importance of regular oral and dental hygiene, it is essential to supervise them and check whether they look after their teeth properly.
Ideally, dental floss should be used after each meal. Nevertheless, once a day should be sufficient, during the last brushing, i.e. after the last meal.
Although wax floss is often not recommended, we consider wax floss more pleasant, and as efficient. It is also much easier to get used to wax floss. top What should our diet look like? Apart from everyday hygiene, our diet is one of the most important general health factors, but is also very important for our oral and dental health.
Sticky and sweetened food such as chocolates, sweets, caramel sweets, sticky cakes, sweetened drinks etc., should be avoided.
This does not mean that one should never eat this kind of food. However, it is important to pay attention to the frequency of such snacks. If these foods are consumed with the main meal, and our teeth cleaned afterwards, this type of food can only affect our weight. On the other hand, brushing our teeth three times a day will be fruitless if we also nibble this type of food in between. A
s far as caries is concerned, the least harmless foods are brown bread, corn bread, apples, carrots and different kinds of fruit and vegetables. top Use of fluoride tablets and other fluoride products? Fluoride products are nowadays available to everyone. Their benefits have been proven several times in various studies.
There are products available in the form of tablets, gels and mouth wash solutions.
Protocols for the use of these products have been defined in detail. For each separate case, dentist will tell the patient which product should be used and how. Independent use of these products is not recommended.
These products are completely safe if used in accordance with your dentist’s advice.
However, fluoride products do not replace adequate hygiene, but only contribute to better health. In other words, use of fluoride products alone will not bring any significant results. These products will only give real results with adequate hygiene. top Dental visits, timing of your child’s first dental visit? Regular dental visits are a very important factor for dental health, because dentists have been trained to perceive details that an untrained person cannot. Apart from a check-up, it would be useful to use each dental visit to remove dilemmas related to oral and dental health, i.e. to get useful advice.
Sometimes, a good piece of advice can be worth more than a tooth filling that patients most frequently visit their dentist for.
Regular visits are half-yearly check-ups of entirely healthy teeth. If a child is susceptible to developing caries, visits should be more frequent, 3-4 times a year.
Future mothers should visit a dentist while baby is still unborn, because a good piece of advice in this period is invaluable.
The best age for your child’s first check-up or familiarisation visit to a dental surgery is between the second and the third year of life. The best scenario is for the child’s first visit to be pain-free, i.e. when teeth are healthy. This way, the first visits will not bring up unhappy memories. Parents should not consider dental visits not resulting in treatment a waste of time. Effort will pay off once your child starts to visit the dentist independently, without being accompanied. top Preparing your child for a dental visit? Parents should not project their negative experiences on children. One should never frighten children, especially not by a dentist.
Children should be told the truth. They should not be lied to about anything, but told what is going to happen to them when they visit a dentist.
Parents should try hard to free their children of fear, but without lies and deceptions. Small presents and favours can be considered, but only if they will help in freeing the child of fear. top Use of anesthetic, safety of use and useful effects? Patients’ biggest fear of dental treatment is related to pain. However, this fear is without grounds, since the new generations of anaesthesia, when adequately used, allow us to perform entirely painless and safe treatments.
Treatments can never be pleasant, and you are unlikely to enjoy yourself while sitting in a dental surgery.
However, pain should not be the reason for avoiding your dentist.
Anaesthesia does not lead to nerve decay, hollow teeth and many other things. Its use can bring slight discomfort, but will give us a painless treatment. top Use of RTG scans. Employment of radiography has been strictly defined in order to avoid its harmless effects as much as possible.
Adequate protection and clearly defined use of x-rays with regards to age, health, and illnesses, makes it as harmless as watching TV. top Multi-session treatment. Our patients frequently visit us in advanced stages of a dental disease. In such cases, a lot of effort needs to be invested in dental treatment. In other words, such treatments can require three or even more visits.
Patients often expect their treatment to be completed in a short period of time, and sometimes describe their dentist’s great effort as incompetence and laziness. It is essential for a successful treatment that both patient and dentist invest a lot of effort. Patients need to follow instructions, because stalling and avoiding appointments reduces potential success and results in already difficult dental disease deteriorating even further.
We can only recommend patience in these situations, because saving a tooth is priceless, both in time and money. top What is an implant? Implants are structures installed into jawbone, with the aim of completely simulating the function of a dental root, i.e. they enable mastication (chewing) and aesthetic restoration.
The most commonly used implants are made of Titanium. When manufactured, each implant undergoes a thorough control, in order to determine its absolute harmlessness to the body. top Will my body accept implants? Except in special cases such as radio- and chemotherapy, human body is completely able to accept implants, without a risk of rejection or any harmful impact.
As already mentioned, implants are made of Titanium, which is also used for artificial hips and for other medical purposes. It has been proven that Titanium does not cause allergic and foreign body reactions. It is non-toxic and non-mutagene. When placed into the body, implants easily integrate into a unique whole and function as its integral part.
Adequate surgical techniques, use of implants made by reliable manufacturers, and accurate diagnostic process, guarantee a long life of implants. top