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Show Me Your Pearly Whites!
Cosmetic Dentistry for Kids
By Gwen Morrison
"Smile ... and say cheese!" you tell your child after coaxing him into the photography studio to capture his beautiful grin on film. Ask any pediatric dentist, and they will tell you, "Children smile when they are proud of their teeth."
No parent wants to see their child hide a smile behind their hand. Even the youngest of children feel better about themselves if they are proud of the way their teeth look.
"Cosmetic dentistry for kids is a concept that comes close on the heels of dentistry for kids," says Dr. Robert R. Smith, D.D.S., a dentist in private practice in Los Angeles. "Most parents want their kids' dentist to have an appreciation for the esthetics of their child's smile in his dental filling materials, in early straightening of the front teeth to avoid the hillbilly look, in whitening of the teeth and in having a general clean and well-cared-for appearance."
Karen DesLauriers, a mom from Sunrise, Fla., remembers when her 13-year-old son fell from a swing when he was a toddler. "He landed on his chin, and soon after that we noticed that his upper front tooth was becoming discolored," she says. "After an X-ray determined the tooth was OK, we were told the discoloration would disappear."
At the age of 6, his permanent tooth came in to replace the discolored tooth, and it was fine, but not as white as his baby teeth. "His permanent teeth came in straight, but very yellow," says DesLauriers. "It is hereditary in my family. We implemented a cleaning schedule every three months when he was 10 years old. That has helped keep his teeth clean and cavity-free, but they were still yellow."
As he got older, DesLauriers' son was more concerned about the yellow tone to his teeth so she decided to try the new white strips that are available for whitening. "He began using them and saw immediate results," she says. "He used them for 30 minutes each morning 10 months ago. He hasn't used them since, and his teeth still look great."