Due to recent advances in dental technology, treatment approach and philosophy in the dental office are different from that of a decade ago. The following are some of the frequently asked questions (FAQ) in the dental office.

Q. When should I bring my child in for his/her first dental visit?

A. We usually recommend the parents to bring in their child at age two for the first dental visit. However, one should be aware that tooth decay could start once there are teeth in the mouth. Other than possible tooth decay, the child could have other conditions such as thumb sucking, tongue thrusting or mouth breathing. The parents should know all the proper oral hygiene procedures for their child. Proper eating habits would be established with the parents as well, extensive anterior tooth decay (nursing bottle syndrome) could be avoided. For the first appointment, the dentist may introduce the child to the dental office environment, certain instruments (such as ‘Mr. Thirsty’) and the staff, since as an adult or a child, we are all less comfortable in new surroundings. Treatment may not be performed during the child’s first visit; however, the main purpose of this first appointment is to identify problems, if any.

Q. When should my child get braces?

A. Orthodontic treatment is usually carried out when the child starts to lose all of his/her primary teeth and grow adult dentition. Active treatment should begin during the adolescent growth spurt. However, we do recommend treatment at an early age if the upper and lower jaw growth rates start to show increasing discrepancy. Through orthodontic treatment, we try to control unfavorable growth patterns and encourage good growth direction.

Q. Why do I have bleeding gums and what can be done about it?

A. Only after a thorough dental examination (with x-rays) can a dentist provide possible etiology and treatment approaches for the ‘bleeding gum’ condition.

Bleeding gums can be caused by (but not limited to) the following:

	Heredity
	Underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, pregnancy or other pathologies
	Side effects of certain medications
	Poor oral hygiene
	Poor diet
	Smoking
	Insufficient dental cleaning

Once the dentist makes a diagnosis, a treatment plan should be presented to the patient to resolve the condition. If appropriate, bone surgery and/or grafting procedure (artificial or human grafts) can be carried out if there is an underlying periodontal (bone) problem.

Q. My teeth are dark and yellow. Can I bleach my own teeth?

A. The ‘dark and yellow’ condition can be due to tooth decay, old fillings, exposed dentin or other intrinsic stains that cannot be bleached. If the patient has existing dental decay or leaking old fillings, tooth bleaching can possibly cause serious complications. In the case of tetracycline stains, tooth bleaching would lighten the intrinsic stain. However, porcelain veneers and/or crowns would be required to resolve this condition. We do not recommend patients purchasing ‘bleaching kits’ from Mail Order Companies or over the counter. The one size fits all bleaching trays that come with these kits, which hold the ‘bleaching material’, would simply not fit the teeth precisely and will cause gum irritation.

Q. How much radiation will I get from dental x-rays?

A. To give a perspective to dental diagnostic x-rays, one should know that people have always been exposed to ‘background radiation’ from the sun, other cosmogenic radiation and pre-existing radioactive isotopes in the earth. A dental panoramic x-ray with the use of an intensifying screen would be equivalent to less than one day of this background radiation. Recent developments of digital x-ray technology further decrease radiation exposure by up to 90%.

Benny C. Kwong, D.D.S.