Depending on your child’s age, dental experience, and oral health history, they may need any of the following services.

Fillings

In some cases a filling may be required for a baby or adult tooth, if this is the case your child will require some local anaesthetic (a numbing injection). This will help your child to be comfortable while their tooth is cleaned with the dental drill. At Sunrise we only use tooth coloured filling material (resin composites).

Stainless Steel Crowns

These are also a great option for young/ anxious patients as no local anaesthetic or drilling is needed and they have a high success rate of lasting until the tooth naturally falls out. Dr Libi loves to call them “princess crowns” or “Ironman teeth”, kids love them too. The process is similar to getting new shoes, the right size is selected and the crown is placed on the tooth with a special “glue”, just like new shoes, the crowns will need a little time for your child to get used to them.

Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF)

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is a liquid that can be used to treat tooth decay. It is a quick, simple and effective way of slowing/stopping the progression of tooth decay when used as part of a wider tooth decay prevention strategy SDF liquid is applied to the cavity on the tooth. It releases silver and fluoride ions over time which act to slow/stop the tooth decay. SDF should be used to prevent or stop tooth decay from getting worse. It should only be used on cavities which are not causing/have not caused your child any pain or infection in the past. SDF should not be used on patients with a known allergy to silver, fluoride, potassium, iodine or ammonia, those with thyroid problems or in patients who suffer with mouth ulcers.

Root Canal Treatment (RCT)

Root canal treatment (RCT) is the process of clearing out infection from the nerve of the tooth.

Enamel is the outer protective layer, dentine is the second softer layer and the nerve (pulp) is the innermost network of blood and nervous tissue. This nerve sits in a part of the tooth called the root canal. It is the nerve that is removed when having an RCT.

Reasons why your child might need an RCT include dental decay or trauma to the tooth. If decay has gone deep enough until it reaches the nerve, this can result in the nerve becoming infected. In the event that a tooth has been bumped, this can irritate the nerve, stimulating infection 

If infection is left untreated, this can result in abscess formation and the tooth may have to be removed.

RCT is usually a successful procedure however in some cases infection may come back and the tooth may need further treatment.

Strip Crowns

Strip crowns are small plastic shaped tooth moulds which can help to rebuild a broken down tooth with either Resin Modified Glass Ionomer Cement (RMGIC) or Composite filling material.

Because not all decay is removed, the discolouration may still shine through.

It will provide reinforcement to the tooth structure and seal it off to prevent further breakdown and improve aesthetics.

Your child may eat, drink and brush normally with their tooth coloured filling since they are fully set with a light when they are placed.

More than one appointment may be needed to get the best possible result, depending on your child’s compliance, further polishing and adjustments may be required.

Tooth Whitening

Some adult teeth come through with bright white spots of hypomineralised enamel on them. In some cases the surrounding enamel may also appear more yellow than is usual

To help improve the colour and aesthetics of the enamel a paediatric dentist may advise tooth whitening if there is an enamel defect

Tooth whitening may also be required when a tooth has suffered dental trauma and had a root canal therapy which has led to discolouration

Tooth whitening will be under parental and dentist supervision

The process involves taking a 3D scan to make a custom fitting tray to hold the bleaching material against the tooth/teeth to be treated

The time required per day and how long to continue the whitening process will all be explained by the dentist when you have your consultation

Usually you will need to wear the trays with the whitening gel in it for a few hours a day, daily, for a few weeks

It’s a good idea to take photos to monitor the progress of the whitening process

If your treatment plan involves a further step such as ICON infiltration or composite filling, you will need to have stopped tooth whitening at least two weeks before the next treatment step

The tooth whitening process can cause some sensitivity, this can be decreased by doing the following:

• Using tooth mousse regularly in the run up to starting your tooth whitening treatment
• Alternating between tooth whitening and applying tooth mousse each day

ICON infiltration treatment for white spots

Some adult teeth come through with white spots, these are dental defects which are out of your hands, luckily your dentist has the tools to help you fix it for your child! 

ICON is a new and fantastic treatment for these white spots and is considered to be a minimally invasive treatment as no tooth is cut away to treat it.

ICON can also treat white spots which occur after orthodontic treatment sometimes and the early stages of dental decay/caries.

Interceptive Orthodontic Treatments

Some children’s bite may not be ideal, usually we wait for them to grow before we do any orthodontic treatment but in some cases it’s better to fix the bite while they are still growing. This may help to avoid future problems or minimise them. Our paediatric dental team works closely with our specialist orthodontist to monitor your child’s growth and development to ensure they get the right orthodontic treatment at the right time, everything is meticulously planned with nothing left to chance!

Mouthguards

To avoid long-term damage caused by sports injuries, it is important to wear a professionally made mouthguard during any sports activity that involves physical contact or moving objects, like cricket, hockey, football, American football, boxing and rugby. A mouthguard will decrease the risk of damaging / breaking teeth and reduce the danger of dislocating the jaw. The mouthguard is custom made to fit exactly over the teeth and gums to cushion and protect the teeth. Our in house digital lab will keep your original scan on file so that in the unfortunate incidence that you lose your mouthguard, in most cases we can make a replacement without having to see you.