The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that children see a pediatric dentist by one year of age.
Visiting a pediatric dentist by the first birthday enables the child to find a dental home and begin a lifelong of preventive dental care program to minimize tooth decay and cavities. Pediatric dentists can detect early tooth decay, provide parents with information on proper oral and facial development, and determine fluoride needs and more.
For a child, a trip to the dentist is a trip into the unknown and can be frightening. That is why it's so important to ease any stress they may feel with a warm, friendly environment and a staff who are acutely aware of the need to welcome children with warmth and smiles.
Specializing in pediatric dentistry, Dr. Shohreh Sharif and her trained, dedicated staff can put your child at ease and ensure their oral health.
Pediatric dentistry concerns the teeth and jaws of children but it's really about heart.
Dr. Sharif and the office team provide a wide range of services that reflect the diversity of children and individual dental requirements. This includes orthodontics, cavity and bite evaluations, potential surgeries and extractions, fillings, cleanings, emergency care and much more.
Preventive dental care is provided to young children and adolescent on a regular basis to make sure children have healthy teeth and gums. Dental exams, cleaning of the teeth, X-rays and fluoride treatments are routinely provided for patients who choose our office as their dental home.
Our office policy is to asses children’s caries risk individually and recommend fluoride supplements and in office applications based on their cavity risk factors. Each patient has unique fluoride needs. There are high, moderate and low risk patient groups for whom preventive oral care plan is developed accordingly
Dental sealants are thin plastic coatings that are applied on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth to protect them from tooth decay by keeping germs and food particles away from these grooves. Permanent molars are the most likely to benefit from sealants. The first molars usually come into the mouth when a child is about 6 years old. Second molars appear at about age 12. It is best if the sealant is applied soon after the teeth have erupted, before they have a chance to decay.
In instances that a child has lost a baby tooth prematurely or a developing permanent tooth is growing in a bad position, the space for future teeth and orthodontic treatment needs to be preserved. Space maintainers are custom fabricated to fit the patient's mouth perfectly.
A baby tooth usually stays in place until a permanent tooth underneath pushes it out and takes its place. Unfortunately, some children lose a baby tooth too soon. A tooth might be knocked out accidentally or removed because of dental disease. When a tooth is lost too early, your pediatric dentist may recommend a space maintainer to prevent future space loss and dental problems.
Baby teeth are important to your child's present and future dental health. They encourage normal development of the jaw bones and muscles. They save space for the permanent teeth and guide them into position. Remember: Some baby teeth are not replaced until a child is 12 or 14 years old.
How does a lost baby tooth cause problems for permanent teeth?If a baby tooth is lost too soon, the teeth beside it may tilt or drift into the empty space. Teeth in the other jaw may move up or down to fill the gap. When adjacent teeth shift into the empty space, they create a lack of space in the jaw for the permanent teeth. Therefore, permanent teeth are crowded and come in crooked. If left untreated, the condition may require extensive orthodontic treatment.
Sports such as soccer, basketball, baseball and softball can cause a number of oral, facial, and head injuries. The athletic mouth guard is one of the most effective pieces of equipment available against dental trauma and concussion. Most athletes clearly prefer the the custom-fitted mouth guard when given a choice. Your pediatric dentist can fabricate a custom fitted mouth guard to protect your child's teeth, lips,checks and gums from sports related injuries
Oral and digit habits such as; thumb, finger, tongue and pacifier sucking can have adverse effects on a child's developing dentition and oral facial muscles. Children must be weaned off of these habits when they are emotionally and developmentally ready.
If these problems are corrected early (by age 3-4) the child can avoid long term orthodontic treatment. Selection of the appliance to reeducate the tongue and the muscles depends on the particular oral problem and will be individually designed to help the child stop their oral habits.
Our office is equipped with the state of the art digital radiography equipment that enables us to take pictures of the teeth and the head and neck area with 80% less radiation than the conventional radiographic techniques.
Children feel comfortable with the smaller equipment in their mouth that works fast and has low risk of radiation exposure to them. X-rays are taken to help diagnose dental problems only when necessary.
Interceptive Orthodontic Treatment
Early orthodontic treatment or limited interceptive treatment can be done around the ages of 7-10 years.
Treatment initiated at this age for bad bites, underdeveloped dental arches and crowding is often very successful and many times, though not always, can eliminate the need for future orthodontic /orthopedic treatment. Early treatment can simplify later orthodontic treatment.
Comprehensive Orthodontic Treatment
When children have all or majority of their permanent teeth, they can be evaluated for bite problems and receive comprehensive or full orthodontic treatment.
Some of the benefits of orthodontic treatment are: creating a more attractive smile, Better function of the teeth, Guide permanent teeth into more favorable positions, increased ability to clean the teeth and improve long term health of the teeth
sometimes baby teeth can't be saved with restorative treatment due to trauma, or a very large cavity that has been there for a long time causing infection. Also baby teethmay be extracted due to crowding or over retention. Sometimes orthodontic treatment requires extraction of permanent teeth. In that case our office will provide these services under comfortable anesthesia levels suitable to each patient's need.
Labial and lingual frenectomies are performed when there is tongue tie or lip tie problems. These problems prevent the child from moving their tongue or lip properly. Speech, eating, and growth and development of the teeth and jaws will be affected if there is a short frenulum problem.If not properly diagnosed and treated, tongue tie will interfere with many infant's breast and bottle feeding.
Biopsies are performed when necessary to diagnose a suspicious lesion or an unusual growth spot in the oral cavity. Simple brush - biopsies can be performed without any discomfort to the patient.
Fillings are required to restore a tooth that has a cavity. Our office provides while fillings which are tooth colored and appear very natural.
In most cases fillings will suffice, but sometimes baby teeth have multiple surface cavities and are best for the tooth to be crowned.With good oral hygiene, when a baby tooth is crowned it is well protected from secondary cavityattacks.
Pulpotomy and pulpectomy are nerve treatments for baby and young permanent teeth. A deep cavity, infection or trauma to a baby or permanent tooth can extend in to the nerve (pulp) of the tooth and cause nerve damage. Because the baby teeth are important in guiding the eruption of permanent teeth in to position , it is best to save them until they are ready to exfoliate naturally.
A pulpotomy removes the unhealthy part of the nerve in the tooth and the healthy part remains intact. Medicine is applied and the tooth is capped until the adult tooth emerges.
Caries is caused by bacteria that are impacted on the teeth and ferment food and cause acid attacks on the teeth. Once the tooth enamel suffers bacterial acid attack, it will demineralize and cavities form
Certain foods are more cariogenic than others such as sugary and processed carbohydrates. Some even make the tooth caries resistant as they have the property of self cleaning. Diet counseling is very important and it should be done according to the age.
Infants and preschool children are more prone to baby bottle decay. Adolescent consume the most junk food and snack frequently. A healthy non cariogenic diet will be promoted for each age group.
Sometimes children are more anxious before or during dental treatment and require more support than a gentle,caring touch to feel comfortable.
Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) is a safe and effective sedative agent that provides analgesia and alleviates anxiety as well as helps with a strong- gag reflex.
Children who have severe anxiety, complex medical issues or mental and physical disabilities may require general anesthesia if they need a lot of dental work. 
Although we welcome children with special medical needs in our office we are pleased to provide general anesthesia services as out-patient surgery at Fair Oaks Hospital.
Dr. Sharif has privileges at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital and provides comprehensive dental care to children who require general anesthesia in a safe environment.
Sometimes dental emergencies arise as a result of accidents in school, home, or playground. Broken teeth, knocked out teeth,severe injuries to the mouth and face need to be attended to right away.
You may call the office during normal office hours for an emergency appointment. Our office has a doctor on call that will take your emergency calls after hours.