Your children's dentist in North Zurich

The first visit to the pediatric dentist is recommended at the age of two. That way, young patients can be introduced to pediatric dentistry together with their parents in a calm, child-friendly atmosphere. At this age the milk teeth have fully erupted in most children.

For questions about diet and daily oral hygiene at home, we are happy to advise you from the moment the first milk teeth come through.

- Keep the day of the visit to your pediatric dentist as relaxed and stress-free as possible. - Make sure your child is well rested. Do not promise your child a reward, as that would suggest there is something to be afraid of. - If you have had bad experiences at the dentist in the past, keep those negative feelings and impressions to yourself. Wherever possible, your child should come without preconceptions.

- Avoid reassuring phrases such as "it definitely won't hurt" or "you don't need to be afraid". They tend to achieve the opposite. - Explain to your child how the visit to the pediatric dentist will go.

A pediatric dentist takes a very different approach from a dentist for adults, above all on the psychological level. It is important that they take a great deal of time for the children, explain everything necessary in language suited to a child, and prepare them playfully for upcoming treatments.

Childhood is when the foundation is laid for a relationship with the treating pediatric dentist that is free of fear and stress. Once a child realizes there is nothing to be afraid of, they are happy to come back.

Your pediatric dentist recommends regular brushing from the moment the first tooth comes through. Once a day in the first year of life, twice in the second and three times a day from the second year onwards. It is important that you help your child brush, because at this age motor skills are usually not yet sufficient for perfect oral hygiene.

It should also be noted that, alongside a suitable brush head size, an age-appropriate toothpaste with an adjusted fluoride concentration (500ppm) should be chosen. Small children cannot spit out properly yet and swallow most of the toothpaste. Your pediatric dentist will gladly show how your child should hold the toothbrush and perform the correct brushing movements.

Keeping the milk teeth until they are lost naturally is of the greatest importance for the smooth development of the permanent dentition. Losing milk teeth early can lead to serious loss of space in the permanent dentition, which can often only be resolved with orthodontic intervention.

Your pediatric dentist helps your child develop optimal oral hygiene and maintain it, spot possible carious changes early and, where necessary, treat them gently and in a way suited to children.

Your pediatric dentist usually repairs your child's decayed milk teeth with a tooth-colored composite. Purely technically, treating a milk tooth differs little from treating a permanent tooth.

If a milk tooth is badly destroyed by decay but keeping it is very important, your pediatric dentist may decide to use silver-colored steel crowns. This gives the badly damaged milk tooth circumferential stability.

When the corresponding permanent tooth comes through, the milk tooth fitted with a steel crown falls out quite normally.

If a milk tooth is hopelessly destroyed by decay, if the bone beneath it is inflamed, or if the milk tooth is fractured along its long axis, often the only option left to your pediatric dentist is to extract it. The neighboring teeth can tip into the gap and the resulting loss of space often cannot be made up again.

For this reason your pediatric dentist often plans a space maintainer made by the dental technician before the tooth is extracted, which can prevent the surrounding teeth from drifting.

If treatment is needed for your very young child whose cooperation is uncertain, the pediatric dentist may decide to carry it out under nitrous oxide sedation.

Nitrous oxide, or dinitrogen monoxide, is a colorless medical gas with a slightly sweet smell. During dental treatment the child breathes the nitrous oxide/oxygen mixture in through a nasal mask, which requires unimpeded nasal breathing. Nitrous oxide relieves anxiety and has a calming, relaxing and pain-inhibiting effect. It also reduces nausea and the gag reflex, and a tingling in the legs and feet and a feeling of heaviness may be noticed.

A calm atmosphere is needed during the treatment, because hearing is heightened under nitrous oxide. Your child loses their sense of time during treatment under nitrous oxide, so that the appointment feels shorter and the treatment as a whole more pleasant. Memory of the treatment is often reduced afterwards.

Because consciousness is maintained throughout the treatment, the patient — unlike under general anesthesia — is always awake and responsive. Their vital reflexes are not suppressed by the nitrous oxide, meaning breathing, swallowing and the gag reflex work normally.

Nitrous oxide is neither consumed nor stored by the body. It is simply breathed out again with the exhaled air. As soon as the nitrous oxide is stopped and pure oxygen is given for a few minutes, the child returns to their normal state. With responsible handling and correct use, incidents and complications are practically ruled out.

Nitrous oxide sedation is regarded as a safe method of sedation. As a side effect, however, nausea or vomiting can occur on rare occasions. If there is a hypersensitivity, or if an unwanted reaction to nitrous oxide has occurred in the past, this must always be reported to your pediatric dentist.

In children and adolescents for whom treatment while awake is not possible – because they are very young, because of anxiety, or because of a medical condition.

For these patients we offer treatment under outpatient general anesthesia here at the practice. We are supported by an experienced external anesthesia team consisting of an anesthesiologist and a nurse.