If you asked Dr. Ray Castro what brought him to want to be a part of the leading team for Pediatric Dentistry in Richmond, CA, he would probably tell you it’s because he loves kids and loves health. But most of us might expect that from our dentist, but what we don’t immediately realize is the extra work that it takes to be a pediatric dentist, and how they differ from other dentists. So we took a moment to sit down with Dr. Castro and ask him some of the more complicated questions related to pediatric dentistry.
What is Pediatric Dentistry?
A pediatric dentist works with children, from toddlers to teenagers. Pediatric dentistry has special knowledge on how the teeth, mouth, and gums go through a unique developmental process through childhood.
When do you children begin to get their teeth?
After birth, children begin to fill their teeth in during their first six months of life. But that’s just their first set of teeth, also known as baby teeth, or as dentists call them ‘deciduous teeth’. Baby teeth are really cool, monkeys have baby teeth, so do dolphins! Actually, all mammals go through the process of getting baby teeth, loosing baby teeth, and then getting their permanent adult teeth. But as far as I know, dolphins don’t go to the dentist.
So what makes pediatric Dentistry so special?
Everything really! I mean, kids these days are actually five times more likely to get dental related infectious diseases than they are to get asthma, and they are seven times more likely to get a dental infectious disease than hay fever. If you think about that for a moment, we’ve all known someone with asthma, especially when we were kids. And that means for every one person with asthma, five other kids we knew probably had a pediatric dental infectious disease. The problem is, asthma is obvious, we know when someone has it, they usually carry around an inhaler, it’s very visible, but dentistry is in the mouth, hidden, so pediatric dental infections might not have been so obvious to us. But without proper pediatric dental care to eliminate and correct certain infectious diseases, children can end up with a lifetime of pain and other medical complications. So really, what makes pediatric dentistry so special is we can save a child from all sort of ailments, discomfort, and medical bills for the rest of their life. It’s pretty cool getting to be that guy.
That does sound pretty cool. Do pediatric dentists have any special training?
Absolutely! We of course have the four years of dental school, like all dentists. But on top of that we must go through to more years of residency training specifically for dentistry related to infants, children a bit older than infants, pre-teens, teenagers, and even children with special needs. So really we are pretty specialized specifically for pediatric dentistry before we even get done with our schooling.
And so what kind of treatments do pediatric dentists provide that other dentists don’t?
Well, we do similar work, but or treatments are specifically for children. For instance, we do infant oral health exams. And in our infant oral health exams, we discuss with mothers what risks their might be for their child to get a dental related infectious disease and what risk the mom might have in giving one to her child. That’s not exactly something your adult dentist is going to talk to you about.
We also do other forms of preventative dental care like teeth cleaning and fluoride treatment to more informational and holistic approaches like coaching new parents on certain foods to stay away from for their kid’s dental health and other nutrition and diet recommendations. And since we haven’t yet met any little babies that can talk to us about what they like to eat, we end up spending a lot of time talking with the parents for this kind of necessary guidance and coaching. You’d be surprised at all the things you don’t know as a new parent, that you find out from your doctor that really improves your child’s overall lifelong health.
Stuff like habit counseling is another perfect example. Habit counseling talks about things like, bottle feeding, breast feeding, pacifier use, teething on no-no- objects and thumb sucking, and how those types of things can come to have along term health consequences for your children. Again, its stuff you might not think about at first as a new parent, but definitely stuff you need to know.
Then of course there’s basic stuff like repairing tooth cavities and other tooth defects. But dealing with a child and children sized teeth is much different than adult teeth. In pediatric dentistry we have to understand and take into consideration a child’s pain tolerance, sensitivity to certain medications, and general child behavior.
Then there’s things like certain diagnosis that we do specifically for kids. Like, diagnosing oral conditions associated with diseases such as diabetes, congenital heart defect, asthma, hay fever, and attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. It sounds almost pretty wild to think that something like ADHD can be related to dental health but it’s absolutely true. Some pediatric dentists even manage pediatric gum diseases and other related conditions such as ulcers, short frenulae, and mucoceles.
And then lastly we do the serious work of emergency dentistry for children, also known as emergency pediatric dentistry.
Sounds serious. What exactly is emergency dentistry for children?
Well it is serious, and the word emergency might be kind of misleading, only because the type of injuries that lead to dental emergencies for kids actually quite common. Kids are kids, they like to be wild and play free and sometimes that can lead to accidents. We see things like, serious toothaches, teeth getting knocked out (or what we call dental avulsion), teeth getting knocked into gums and jawbones (dental intrusion), partial fractures, and even make sure there is no internal bleeding after certain head traumas. The list is quite long and injuries are extremely distressing for parents and kids and as pediatric dentists we are especially sensitive to the heightened emotional state of everyone involved. So in that way we are here for the patients physical issues, but we are also here to help families emotional cope through the entire endeavor. And I guess, helping see families through a time of trouble like this is something I feel I’m particularly good at, and I guess you could say I pride myself on that.
So why should people choose a pediatric dentist in Richmond?
Well, first off, you don’t want your child seeing any general dentist. Only a pediatric dentist has the training, qualifications, and experienced to deal with not only your child’s physical situation, but also the surrounding emotional states that often come with working with children and families. We know how to make kids, smile, laugh, and become comfortable to let us do our work. It’s something we love to do and look forward to doing every day.
Secondly, you want a dentists close by that you can trust. If you are in an emergency situation, you don’t want to have to rely on a stranger who doesn’t already have that relationship and trust built into your family and your child. You want someone that already knows you and your children. So if you live in the Richmond, CA or surrounding area, it makes perfect sense for you to find someone in your locale.
So where can I find a pediatric dentist in Richmond or nearby?
Well, start by contacting us. You can either give us a phone call, or simply ask us any question you want through our online messenger. We answer all questions or concerns as if they were top priority. Anything from, “do you or any dentist you know cover out insurance?” to “My child has been injured and I need to have his teeth looked at right now.” Are questions we get all the time, and we are always happy to provide the help and answers you need.
Also, you can’t find all answers to your questions online. And contacting us is completely free and often faster than trying to hunt down answers you need. And honestly, we are here to help at no cost. If we turn out to be the pediatric dentist for your family, great we are beyond happy to be a part of your family’s health, if not we are equally as happy to point you in the right direction and get you the help you need. So click on the contact us button below, say hello and ask if we might be the right fit to serve your families growing needs for a new pediatric dentist in Richmond.