Natural Dentistry for Kids
As an informed and loving parent, it is only our nature to extend the healthiest and safest lifestyle choices beyond ourselves to our children. Holistic oral care is at the core of a flourishing experience for you and especially your child as they progress through their significant developmental stages of life.
Natural dental hygiene acts as a mirror reflecting and connecting to the overall health of our body. Holistic pediatric dentistry can promote healthier mouth and jaw development for your little one correlating to better speech, breathing, and tooth alignment. Physiologically, a healthy mouth can support your child’s behavior, mood, confidence levels, and overall well being, which can be especially supportive for you throughout your parenting journey.
What is a Holistic Pediatric Dentist?
Holistic Dental Care Unique to Your Child
A holistic pediatric dentist utilizes a whole-body, individualized approach to a child’s oral wellness and development using safe, healthy, gentle, bio-compatible, natural and minimally invasive dental care techniques. They operate according to a belief system that the mouth and body are fundamentally connected, and will seek to treat and restore the natural health of your child’s mouth while working in harmony with their entire body. Contrary to the traditional “one size fits all” dentistry model, holistic pediatric dentists recognize that every child is unique and should be treated according to their specific needs.
Under the care of a natural, biological or holistic pediatric dentist, your child will receive an assessment which considers not only their physical body, but also their mental and emotional state of being. The mouth-body relationship can uncover underlying health issues which may have otherwise been passed by. For instance, factors such as diet and nutrition, lifestyle habits, sleep patterns, and even stress levels are taken into account as they have a direct impact on your child’s overall physiology.
Holistic pediatric dentists demonstrate ways in which your child’s mouth and the rest of their body are mere reflections of one another and can highlight underlying illness and disease. Working together with your child’s dentist, you and your young ones can start making healthier decisions to achieve and maintain healthier, stronger, beautiful smiles that last a lifetime.
Benefits of Biological Pediatric Dental Care
Are you searching for a more natural, holistic oral healthcare provider for your children and family? Are you interested in a dentist who uses safer, bio-compatible materials? Do you seek a gentler, less invasive and more conservative approach to the typical “drill and fill” philosophy you find at most dental practices? If so, a biological dentist who also specializes in pediatric holistic dental care might be a great fit for you and your family.
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of biological pediatric dentistry.
1. Prioritizing our Children’s Safety
Holistic dentistry prioritizing one’s overall health is a main contributor as to why it is so beneficial for children. A young one’s developing body is especially vulnerable to potentially harmful chemicals such as mercury and fluoride that are often used in conventional dental practices. Bio-compatible, toxin-free and minimally invasive treatment options allow a holistic dentist to honor and nurture the physical and emotional health of your child.
2. Whole Person Treatment
Many traditional dentists never take the time to get to know their patients beyond their mouth which prevents the ability to offer individualized care. A natural pediatric dentist aims to offer you a treatment plan which is oriented towards the whole body. This may look like taking more preventative action, looking beyond the symptoms to find the root causes of dental issues, and assessing your child’s health from multiple angles to better understand a child’s specific care and needs.
3. Minimally Invasive Treatments
Preventative care is actually a very powerful tool in obtaining minimally invasive treatments. A holistic children’s dentist can properly assess and guide you and your family towards making healthier choices at home to prevent the need for significant dental work. This could look like helping you to implement a more regular and thorough brushing routine, offering ideas on how to make brushing more fun for your little one, suggesting healthy alternatives to overly sugary processed snacks, and more!
In the case where treatment is necessary, biological pediatric dental care providers have amazing alternatives to conventional dentistry such as minimal radiation digital x-rays, air abrasion ‘drill-less’ dentistry, silver diamine treatments, ozone therapy, and more.
4. Oral Health Reflects Overall Health
Oral cavities are direct entry points where infectious materials and bacteria can be introduced in the bloodstream. This could potentially lead to significant health altering issues such as increased risk of stroke or heart attack, premature birth for pregnant moms, cardiovascular disease and difficulty maintaining diabetes. By assessing your child’s teeth and mouth, a family dentist can find important clues revealing more about your little one’s overall health. It’s an important practice as it helps to catch the onset of health issues early on before more serious symptoms may arise.
5. Preventing and Treating Cavities in Baby Teeth
When caught early on, tooth decay in young children can be stopped and even prevented by your biological pediatric dentist. Looking proactively after their developing teeth and intervening as early as possible will help to minimize the need for treatment. If tooth decay is detected early, a natural kid’s dentist will aim to treat your child non-invasively by first offering dietary changes as well as technologies such as air abrasion or ozone therapy rather than jumping to a traditional drill and fill method.
In the event your child has a cavity that must be filled, it’s important to choose a pediatric biological dentist based on their ample variety of safe, durable, non-toxic bio-compatible materials. There is absolutely no need to put mercury or other metal fillings in your child’s mouth. Similarly with adults, a natural kid’s dentist can test for compatibility in advance, ensuring the material used isn’t likely to trigger a negative response in your child’s system.
6. Healthy Child, Happy You
It can’t be emphasized enough the importance of your child’s sense of self, mood, behavior and mindset as you embark on many adventures together. With healthier snacking and a happy clean mouth, your little one will truly be smiling on the inside and out. And of course their mood directly impacts your mood and ability to stay true to your center as you move through the day parenting, teaching, and guiding them.
Reducing the amount of toxins, harmful chemicals, and unsafe materials in your dental experience alone can initiate a tremendous physiological relief for you and your little one. Not to mention, a natural dental visit where the treatments are minimally invasive and truly prioritizing the overall health of your child, rather than merely treating symptoms and limiting the scope of work solely to their mouth. This can have a lasting impact on your child’s sense of safety, health, and wellbeing creating a more easeful and nourishing relationship between the two of you.
As you can see, there are countless reasons to choose a biological dentist to enhance your family’s oral health and wellness. Holistic, natural dentistry is an excellent option for all ages – especially children. The younger the patient, the more time we have to properly educate them on the connection between their oral and overall health, leading to a lifetime of informed decisions.
Safe, Natural Child-Oriented Dental Services
When considering a kids dentist, biological dentists often offer an array or services you won’t find in a traditional dental office.
- Safe, Bio-Compatible Dental Fillings. Holistic, biological and natural dentists are committed to using safe, non-toxic bio-compatible dental materials. They strictly oppose the use of amalgam, or mercury fillings, which are toxic to both children and adults. Their metal free, tooth colored composite resin fillings are safe, strong and offer a more natural looking alternative to amalgam.
- Ozone and Air Abrasion.Ozone therapy can help treat oral infections in children using only water and oxygen. It is a powerful antimicrobial agent, killing bacteria on contact and penetrating areas deep below the gum line where disinfectant or antibiotic cannot reach. In combination with air abrasion (known as “drill-less” dentistry) it can also be used to treat the early stages of tooth decay in children. Air Abrasion is noiseless, heat-less and a minimally invasive alternative to drilling.
- Silver Diamine Treatments. Treating your child’s teeth with Silver Diamine is a safe and effective way to stop cavities from worsening and protect against future tooth decay. Silver Diamine is a liquid that is applied topically to your child’s teeth, making it a non-invasive and pain free method of treatment to stop cavity growth until a more permanent restoration can be put into place.
- VIVOS Therapy for Kids. VIVOS appliances offer a radical new approach for the long-term treatment of sleep disordered breathing. In children, the Vivos appliance can help guide the development of the jaws to create a wider airway, preventing conditions such as sleep apnea, snoring and even the need for braces.
- HealthyStart System. The HealthyStart System is a non-invasive, pain-free approach to opening the airway and straightening teeth without braces. The HealthyStart System consists of a series of appliances that address symptoms of Sleep Disordered Breathing. These symptoms often go misdiagnosed or untreated and worsen with age. HealthyStart aims to address these symptoms early-on so that they can be solved naturally. The HealthyStart program can correct an overbite, overjet, rotation, crowding, spacing, and align the joints for TMJ treatment.
- Low Dose Digital X-rays. Radiation is not good for children (or adults!). Our low dose digital dental x-rays expose your child to 80-90% less radiation than conventional x-rays. Best yet, digital x-ray are not only safer with lower radiation exposure – they are also a superior technology to aid in both diagnosing and evaluation.
About Integrative Dental Solutions
At Integrative Dental Solutions, it is our mission to treat and restore the natural health of your child’s mouth while working in harmony with their entire body. We honor the mouth-body relationship and can analyze potential underlying causes of oral issues that may arise. If we identify a problem, it is our goal to find the least invasive approach to healing while utilizing the most advanced technology known to dentistry.
Our dentists offer holistic pediatric dentistry and we love to see families learn together and make changes as a whole family unit. We provide personalized, gentle dental care for infants, toddlers, children, and teens and always use safe, non-toxic, bio-compatible dental materials. Our wide range of pediatric dental services include ozone and air abrasion treatment of cavities, biocompatible dental treatments, silver diamine fluoride treatments, VIVOS therapeutics, HealthyStart orthodontics, low dose digital x-rays, metal free restorations, and more.
Ready to learn more? Please contact us to take the first step in reclaiming oral and physical health for you and your child.