CHILDREN'S DENTISTRY

Dr. Ryan Gidel and Dr. Cody Olson understand how scary new experiences, especially medical ones, can be for children. It's completely normal for a child to be unsure or nervous about their first dental visit, but at NorthPark Family Dentistry , they don't have to be! We take special care to turn your child's visit into a memory they will look back on fondly—so they can look forward to their visits in the future!

We recommend your child's first dental appointment be scheduled with us as soon as possible after they turn 1. That way, we can ensure their smile stays healthy from the very beginning!

 The American Academy of Pediatric Dentists (AAPD) advises that children be seen for  a checkup every 6 months. These visits allow our doctors to closely monitor new changes in your child's mouth and ensure that you, as a parent, have the information you need to promote continued oral health in your child.

Dr. Ryan Gidel and Dr. Cody Olson may suggest additional checkups if your child is more susceptible to cavities, or if your child is showing signs of orthodontic problems.

Dental fluoride treatments are safe and effective in decreasing the number of cavities in children. Dr. Ryan Gidel and Dr. Cody Olson often recommend fluoride treatments  along with dental sealants to protect your child's teeth. The fluoride acts as a shield for the tooth's outer enamel and can actually reverse early dental decay in some children.

Protective dental sealants are thin coats of resin painted onto your child's back teeth to protect their deep grooves and depressions from accumulating bacteria and food particles. Studies show that 88% of cavities in American school-aged children are  caused by food and bacteria being caught in rear molars.

At NorthPark Family Dentistry, we typically apply a protective sealant to your child's back teeth, premolars, and molars. The sealant will last for several years, but we will continue to check it during your child's regular dental appointments.

Dental crowns are tooth-shaped coverings cemented to a badly damaged tooth to restore the shape and functionality of the tooth. Dr. Ryan Gidel or Dr. Cody Olson may recommend a crown for your child's tooth if it has a large cavity, was broken or chipped due to trauma, or if the tooth hasn't developed correctly. 

Unfortunately, sometimes a child's tooth may be too badly decayed to save. In this  case, Dr. Cody Olson and Dr. Ryan Gidel will perform an extraction.

An extraction is the complete removal of a tooth. Extractions are sometimes necessary

•   A primary tooth is preventing the normal eruption of a permanent tooth
• The tooth has suffered extensive tooth decay or trauma that cannot be repaired   The patient has gum disease
• The tooth is impacted — this is usually the case with the third molars, or "wisdom teeth," as they erupt years after the other teeth and often have insufficient room in the jaw

If your child is anxious, has special needs, or just needs extra help staying calm and comfortable, Dr. Ryan Gidel and Dr. Cody Olson may recommend laughing gas.  Laughing gas is a completely safe way to help children receive the dental care they need without anxiety or fear.

Once the dental treatment is over, the gas will be completely out of their system after  just a few minutes. Laughing gas is widely considered to be low risk. Our goal is to always care for your child's dental health in the safest way possible.

Not all wisdom teeth need to be extracted — but some do. In many situations, it's best to extract the wisdom teeth before they jeopardize your smile as a whole. If your wisdom tooth's growth can cause damage to neighboring teeth, or cannot fully erupt, we may consider extraction.

We will take a panoramic radiograph of your child's entire jaw, so we can see the size,  location, and developmental stage of the wisdom teeth in consideration.