Oral health is essential for everyone, both children and adults. Family dentistry is an area of dental care responsible for providing dental services to people of all ages. Although a general dentist receives extensive education before beginning their practice, a family dentist steps further to provide quality dental care to family setups.

The choice of visiting a family dentist will allow you to benefit from their expanded services and experience, which target treatment and prevention of potential dental problems that might affect your family members. It’s a big mistake to wait for oral problems to progress since they will cause discomfort, pain, and huge treatment costs.

Your family dentist will be accountable for you and your family members' dental issues. A family dentist is essential. This is because they offer a wide range of services to you. Thus you will maintain a healthy lifestyle. Just from your smile, your family dentist can tell your overall dental health and your habits. So, your oral health needs to be taken care of by a family dentist.

Now that you are a parent, you don’t need to let your child go through the same. At Washington Dental, we are here to help you maintain good oral health if seeking dental services in Carson, CA. We provide a wide range of dental examinations, cleaning, x-rays, sealants, fluoride treatments, fillings, among others. In addition, our family dentists keep a detailed record of both you and your family member’s dental history and needs.

Common Services Provided by a Family Dentist

It may be challenging to find a family dentist for every member of your family based on their stages of life and ages. But, upon finding a family dentist, you will enjoy numerous services they offer to you and your family. The following are the common services provided by family dentists:

Dental Care for Your Entire Family

During their training and education, family dentists gain more experience in providing dental care to both adults and children. The dentists normally start to see children at the age of around three years. But the older children are advised to visit the dentists regularly for teeth examination and cleaning. With a family dentist, you will manage your oral health through regular visits.

Usually, everyone should visit the dental offices at least after every six months. Remember, during regular dental visits, the dentist will undertake thorough dental checkups and clean the gum and teeth. In addition, your family dentist will scrutinize your oral health during the dental checkups and detect whether you have any underlying dental issues. Also, the dentists will remove tartar and plaque and polish the teeth.

Offer Preventive Oral Care

Your oral problems should be identified early to avoid main problems like tooth decay and tooth loss. Therefore, a family dentist provides preventive oral care like comprehensive exams to identify issues in your mouth. For instance, they will clean your teeth after every six months to remove tartar and plaque, contributing to gum diseases and tooth decay.

All children require special dental care since their teeth are in developmental stages. Your family dentist will teach you and your children the preventive practices to keep the teeth healthy at all times. For example, if your child requires teeth alignment, a family dentist will correct it while still young since it's better than adults. If you practice regular dental checkups, flossing, rinsing, and brushing, you and your family members will prevent gum disease, cavities, among other serious dental issues.

Correct Imperfections in Your Smile

Since a family dentist focuses on providing oral care to all, they also correct imperfections in your smile, which happen at any life stage. For example, the dentist may fit them with Invisalign to correct misaligned bites and straighten the teeth for teenagers and older children. In addition, the dentists may provide you with whitening procedures, veneers, or dental bonding to remove stains and blemishes like chipped teeth for the adults in your family.

Detect and Treat Dental Issues Early Enough

Most dental issues affect the soft tissues in your mouth. But, again, gum disease is another problem that may affect you even at an early age. During your regular dental visits, your family dentist will check on your gum and detect any signs of gum diseases like bleeding and redness around your teeth. The treatment for your gum disease may include cleaning medications and procedures. Again the dentist may perform minor oral surgery to reverse the disease to avoid tooth decay or loss in the future.

Guide Your Kids Towards a Great Oral Health

According to the American Academy of pediatric dentistry, parents must schedule their kids' first dental appointment after six months or their first birthday. Then, like adults, children should visit their dentist every six months for evaluation and cleaning. In addition, the appointments will allow the dentist to advise the parents about critical issues like oral habits, nutrition, and oral hygiene instructions.

Most parents underestimate the need to care for their kid’s primary teeth since they know they will shed to create room for permanent adult teeth. Remember, tooth decay or any other problems affecting your child’s teeth may have a long-term impact on their well-being. Washington Dental experts provide you with instructions and guidelines on how to take care of your child’s dental health before you shift the responsibility to them.

Your family dentist may recommend extra services after the routine evaluation and cleaning. It might include sealants, fluoride treatment, or mouth guard to avoid thumb-sucking. As the child grows into a pre-teen, the family dentist will monitor the child’s bite and teeth alignment carefully to know whether braces would help them in the future. Our dentists understand most children feel anxious about the overall dentists.

Improve Your Oral Dental Hygiene

Family dentists prefer educating your family on the best ways to avoid most dental issues in both kids and adults. So, the first thing your family dentist will do is explain the healthy and unhealthy habits for your teeth regardless of the age of your family members. Then, again, they must guide you and your family members about desirable dental hygiene. So, family dentists will make an effort to minimize plaque buildup. To do this, the dentists will advise you and your family members on how to keep your teeth strong and healthier. Also, if one of your family members is affected by dental issues, he/she will explain several ways on how the affected member will fight the dental problem.

When you visit your dentist, you may ask them to show you or your children how you clean your teeth without damaging your gums. For example, most people brush their teeth too hard or use hard toothbrushes. Again, flossing your teeth might be challenging when you wear braces. So, a family dentist will help you overcome these problems for you to maintain healthy oral care.

Maintain Your General Health

Most dental experts and researchers claim a person's dental health is essential for your teeth and general body health. But, unfortunately, most people globally with dental issues end up developing other severe diseases. So, your family dentist will be critical in guiding you on your general health. For example, they will help detect any signs of cardiovascular disease early. So, you will eliminate the health complications in the future.

Besides having a healthy smile, oral hygiene will reduce other infections, cancer, and even heart diseases. So, a family dentist is a vital aspect of your family's well-being. Although you may feel a pediatrician is the most suitable for your family and kids, a family dentist is more qualified to observe the best care for your oral health.

Perform Cavity Filling

Cavity filling is also known as dental fillings. They are the most popular fillings for minor cavities. Before placing the filling, the dentists administer a local anesthetic. Next, the dental experts remove a portion of your teeth. Then, the cavity is filled with a colored filling material. Finally, the dentists fix the filling mainly for the following purpose:

• To repair chipped, broken, or worn-out teeth.
• Close spaces in your teeth where sugar, bacteria, and food particles may enter, causing tooth decay.

Types of Cavity Fillings Offered by Family Dentist

The types of the cavity are classified into two groups, direct and indirect fillings.

Direct Fillings

Usually, there are three types of direct cavity filling. The direct fillings are prepared inside your mouth during your dental appointment visit. The three types of direct cavity fillings are:

1. Composite Fillings

Composite fillings involve a tooth-colored acrylic resin. It’s the most popular restorative material used to fill broken teeth and chipped teeth. Remember, composite fillings are applied to restore cavities in premolars and molars.

The great advantage of composite filling; they are colored with natural teeth. Thus, they will match your teeth. Again, composite resin materials are durable, strong, and match your teeth. Alternatively, although the composite material is durable, it will last for only five years.

2. Glass ionomer fillings

Glass ionomer filling is classified into two groups:

• Conventional Glass Ionomer

They are colored restoration prepared of ion-glass particles and polymerizable acids. The conventional glass ionomers also release fluoride to prevent future cavities. However, the CGIs are not as durable as composite or amalgam.

• Resin-Modified Glass Ionomers

The fillings are almost similar to CGIs but have added acrylic resins. Resin-Modified glass ionomers are used to fill cavities in primary teeth. Unfortunately, the fillings aren’t as versatile as composite resins.

• Silver Amalgam Fillings

They are a mixture of silver, mercury, copper, and tin. The silver fillings are primarily used when restoring posterior baby teeth. (molars and premolars). The amalgam fillings last for up to ten years. Again, they are the strongest and durable direct fillings available in the market currently. Almost anyone may afford them as they are the cheapest cavity filling available at the market.

Perform Cosmetic Dentistry

As mentioned above, dentists treat a varied range of dental problems. But, again, treating the different dental issues isn’t the only thing they offer. For example, a family dentist may provide advanced dental solutions leading to enhancing your gums and teeth. Therefore, a family dentist may improve your smile and your or your family member’s physical appearance. In addition, the dental experts will prepare cosmetic dentistry and participate in it if he/she is well trained.

Receive Enhanced Dental Treatments

Nowadays, technology has greatly advanced the dental industry. Most dental issues have been sorted out by dental clinics. However, with the recent advancement in technology, dentists can offer complicated services. The services include orthodontics, oral hygiene, implants, dentures, and periodontics. Your family dentist will diagnose and advise you on the best treatment for your dental problem. In addition, since your family dentist has all your dental records, he/she will have an easy time treating some of your complicated dental issues.

Receive General Oral Care for All Ages

Family dentists also provide general dental care to your entire family. General dentists are usually restrictive on the age of the groups they treat. The dentists provide dental care according to the life stages as follows:

The Babies

Babies are vulnerable to tooth decay and cavities before and during the growth of deciduous teeth. When your baby’s first tooth erupts at six months, it's best if you regularly visit a family dentist. When you start early oral care, it ensures your baby develops good habits as they increase their age. Your family dentist may conduct this duty.

Early childhood

Children require dental care, especially when they begin losing baby teeth and permanent teeth start to grow in. During this period, your child needs routine teeth cleaning and home dental care. In addition, a family dentist will help them prevent tooth decay, cavities, and other dental conditions.

Young adults and Teens

Most family dentists are specialists in orthodontics. However, teenagers commonly use envisaging and braces to reposition and straighten their teeth. In addition, teenagers are susceptible to gum diseases, tooth decay, and cavities depending on their childhood habits, lifestyle, and diet. It is therefore advisable to keep in touch with your family dentist to prevent tooth decay.

The Adults

For adults, dental care is as essential as it is for children. As an adult, you can easily skip dental appointments due to your busy schedule. However, after 35, you have to note that people quickly lose their teeth due to periodontal disease or tooth decay. In addition, TMJ problems, breakdown of cavity fillings, and oral cancer are common in adults. So, a family dentist is also vital for this age group.

The Seniors

After 65 years, you are at more risk of new oral challenges as the body continues to age. Common conditions include oral cancer, severe gum disease, dry mouth, root decay, and attrition. To reduce the risk of having severe oral conditions, you want to stick to your family dentist to maintain a healthy mouth.

Restore Your Damaged or Lost Teeth

Teeth damage or loss is another common dental issue treated by a family dentist. Most people think losing a tooth is a cosmetic problem, but you should know, losing teeth causes teeth shifting. Also, you may experience issues with eating and speaking after losing one of your teeth. Your family dentist will examine and assess your gum line, teeth structure, and the teeth’ conditions for them to develop a plan for teeth replacement. The dental expert may choose to restore the lost tooth using dentures, dental implants, and bridges.

Eliminate Your Dental Anxiety

Dental anxiety and phobia is a significant problem which even grown-ups combat. Both anxiety and dental phobia may result as a result of delaying dental treatment. If one of your family members has any of the above conditions, the family dentist will check them in one session.

Most children develop dental anxiety early, and having a family dentist will help overcome the problem. In addition, your children will gain more confidence and become more experienced after seeing you visit your family's dentist treatment. Remember, most children mimic the behaviors of their parents/ guardians. So when you show them that attending their dentist is essential, they will develop a lasting impression.

The good news is, visiting your family dentist with your family will overcome any fear at an early age. Thus your family members will remain comfortable with their dentist for the rest of their lives. Regular dental visits are imperative for good oral health.

The Family Dentist is More Aware of Your Family Dental Issues

One of the significant advantages of having a family dentist i they know your family member’s dental history. If you or one of your family members had surgeries, dental diseases, or allergies, the dentist has those records. It means they know the treatment method which suits your case based on your past dental history.

An active family dentist will detect any dental issues from the recent checkups and take the necessary action. Since several issues may be genetic, it will help maintain one family dentist for your entire family. For example, if the dentist treats you with an orthodontic problem, they will be attentive when treating your kids.

Discover Greater Comforts During Your Regular Visits

Although regular dental visits may sometimes be uncomfortable, you should not experience severe pain during dental treatments. The trained family dentist understands most people feel nervous about going for dental treatment or examination. But, the family dentists strive to provide a comfortable environment for you to enjoy the visits. Inform your dentist if you are struggling with anxiety to suggest listening to music. If you are going for treatment methods like tooth filling, the dentist may discuss a potential strategy to ensure you are comfortable during the procedure.

Receive Consistent and Regular Services

The dental experts recommend you visit your dentist at least twice per year for teeth cleaning and checkups. By doing so, you will maintain your oral health. So, if you have a family dentist, it means you will have confidence when visiting them, and you will never skip any appointment. Again, by maintaining one dentist to treat your dental issues, you will receive consistent treatment. Therefore, your family dentist will provide your family members with consistent dental services.

Build a Long Lasting Relationship with Your Dentists

Trust is very vital between you and your dentists. For example, when there is trust, communication becomes easy, open, and honest. For example, a teenager feels comfortable discussing their dental issues with a dentist they have been in touch with since they were small children. Again, when your dentists have all details concerning your dental health, they will diagnose the symptoms correctly, and both you and your family members will receive the best treatment. Note, it will be easy to share your fears with the dental experts you trust.

Receive Emergency Dental Services

If something wrong happens to your teeth and requires immediate dental care, it will be immediately considered if you have an active family dentist. The good news is; the dentist is trustworthy to both you and your family members. So, any time you think you want to see an emergency dentist, you won’t struggle to find one. You will only need to make a call to your dentist and book an appointment right away.

Your child may experience knocked or chipped teeth, and those emergencies usually occur at most inconvenient times. However, with a family dentist, it means you will see them anytime, either day or nighttime, and receive quality dental services, regardless of the child’s situation.

Find a Family Dentist Near Me

Having your family dentist in Carson is something you cannot avoid. Apart from obtaining the services discussed above, you will also receive education and updates about oral health from one dentist. In addition, you will receive updates about the latest dentist technologies, the best diet for your oral health, and the best practices to keep your teeth stronger and healthier.

Now that you are aware of the dental services offered by family dentists, you will undoubtedly look for one. Washington Dental, we are here to help you. If you’re seeking quality dental services in Carson, CA, call us at 310-217-1507, and our dental experts will assist you.