Parents can sometimes feel like Uber drivers taking their children from one activity to another all the time. We know the feeling! For most parents, squeezing anything extra into an already busy schedule can be tough.
Proper oral care is not just an “extra”, it’s essential to your child’s overall health. This requires regular visits to two different specialists:
- A Pediatric Dentist: This doctor has undergone an additional 18 months to two years of training after completing dental school. That allows them to help keep your child’s teeth and gums at their very best with dental services.
- A Pediatric Orthodontist: An orthodontist’s mission is complementary to the dentist. A dentist cares for the overall health of the teeth and gums, and an orthodontist helps with the positioning of the teeth. These issues are more than cosmetic, because teeth positioning can directly affect oral health.
Receiving the care of a dentist along with an orthodontist is vital to help your child keep their teeth healthy and strong. Yet, there’s still the problem of the crowded calendar.
Here at Children’s Dentistry in Las Vegas, our solution is simple: offer both services under the same roof! Consolidating oral care within the same practice is a gamechanger, and here’s why.
1. Visiting A Dentist with an Orthodontist is Convenient
Visiting a dentist and an orthodontist at two different practices can be a drain of your time. It means coordinating with two different offices, asking them to share dental records like x-rays, and making the trip out to two different offices. When it’s time for an orthodontic exam, it will be as easy as inviting the orthodontist into the room.
2. Visiting A Dentist with an Orthodontist Provides Coordinated Care
Although the dentist and orthodontist occupy different spheres of oral health, their work overlaps to provide overall quality care for your child’s smile. Having two doctors at two separate locations means having two sets of dental records, two different philosophies of treatment, and two opinions on how to care for your child’s teeth. By providing both services under one roof, your child can receive care in a coordinated way.
- Unified dental records will give a complete history of your child’s care, achieving better overall care in the long run. Sharing records also means that you won’t have to take twice the number of tests.
- Coordinating a dentist with an orthodontist will help them align on the best path for your child’s oral health.
- Dentistry and orthodontics working in tandem at the same office allow for treatments to be synched between doctors, allowing for swifter and better overall outcomes. This is vitally important if your child needs braces.
3. Visiting A Dentist with an Orthodontist Provides Rapport
As a parent, you want your child to feel comfortable with the doctors and staff of the office that is providing their oral care. When dentists and orthodontists are at different locations, your child will have to get to know two different sets of people.
When dental care and orthodontics are together under the same roof, it helps your child build a rapport with the singular staff they see on a regular basis. This helps reduce their stress about visiting the office. After all, you don’t want it to be a struggle every time your child has to get their teeth checked out.
4. Visiting A Dentist with an Orthodontist Allow For Better Oral Health
Reducing barriers between families and oral care is vitally important because many children do not get the care that they need. According to the American Dental Association, only 64.6% of children in the United States receive their dental checkups every six months. Of course, there can be many reasons why the other 35% or so do not visit the dentist, but almost 20% specifically reported that it was because they could not find a convenient appointment time.
We understand that solving the problem of why so many children don’t get proper oral care is a complex, multi-faceted issue. But it would seem like pediatric dentists and orthodontists need to do all they can to make it easier for young people to come through their doors. We feel that providing a dentist with an orthodontist under the same roof can only help.
Children’s Dentistry Has Both Specialties Covered
There’s good news for those who live in the greater Las Vegas area: Children’s Dentistry offers the combined pediatric dental and orthodontic specialties that your children need. In fact, we offer convenient evening and Saturday appointments at our ten neighborhood locations. We even have same-day appointments available in certain situations.
We believe that every child should have access to the oral care they deserve, which is why we accept most dental insurance plans (including Medicaid). Don’t have insurance? Contact our office at (702) 832-0508 and our staff will be glad to go over your options with you, including special cost-saving promotions.
Have questions about a dentist with an orthodontist at the same office? Contact us today so we can answer all of your questions!