Family Dentistry

Our warm and gentle Smile Centre team enjoy helping family members of all ages. A good family dentist will help guide children and their families through many possible dental and orthodontic challenges, from a very young age, while promoting good habits and maintaining oral and overall health in order to prevent more serious problems from occurring later on in life.

While well-care visits to pediatricians or family physicians are a standard part of most American children’s lives, regular dental check-ups are all too often over-looked. From anecdotal experience, it seems that most families simply do not know when to start their children seeing a family dentist (approximately around 4 years of age unless problems arise earlier)…or even when to start cleaning their baby’s teeth (as soon as they come in).

The mouth is connected to the rest of the body and can have either positive or negative effects on a child’s physical and emotional well-being depending on the care given to taking care of the child’s oral health. Here are a few results of ignoring good oral hygiene habits and healthcare:

• Tooth loss
• Gum disease
• “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Preventive exams, cleanings and fluoride treatments along with speedy treatment for cavities before they grow large is MUCH less costly than waiting until something hurts.
• Pain
• Embarassment
• Inability to smile or talk with confidence
• Higher chance of heart disease
• Higher chance of diabetes
• Narrow, crowded teeth which results in less room for the tongue which can result in restriction of airways, tongue thrusting, clenching, grinding, snoring, sleep apnea, ADD or ADHD, headaches, dizziness, sleepiness, high blood pressure and so on.

So don’t wait to get your family started on the right path to good dental health and overall health.  It’s just too important!  Call our family dentists at The Smile Centre today in Venice at 941-497-5451 or in Sarasota at 941-351-4468.