Keep Your Teen Smiling: Dental Care for Teens By Victor Siegel on July 03, 2015

If you are the parent of a teen, you know that it can be, shall we say, difficult to get teenagers interested such things as dental hygiene and visiting the dentist. Sure, they want to have beautiful smiles, but going to the dentist to make those beautiful smiles a reality - well, that can be a tough sell.

That’s why Dr. Victor R. Siegel and his friendly team of experienced general dentistry professionals strive to make dental care for teens an absolute pleasure at our Rockville practice. Teens are smart; nothing we do is going to make dentistry a party for them, and if we attempt to make it so, we risk being patronizing and alienating them. Rather, we treat them with the respect they deserve, speaking to them in terms to which they can relate and making them active participants in their own oral health. We cater to their special needs as patients who are definitely not children, yet not quite fully grown adults. As a result, we create an environment in which they feel cared about and comfortable, one in which they will forge a meaningful relationship with a dentist and therefore with their oral health.

The Special Needs of Teenagers

Unlike our pre-teen patients, our teenaged patients have all of their adult teeth - the teeth that they will hopefully have for a lifetime, depending on the habits they form during these all-important formative years. We take our roles as trusted dental instructors very seriously. We understand that the influence we have over our teenaged patients now will help to determine whether they require extensive restorative dental work in the future.

This means that we must provide our teenaged patients with exceptional general dentistry, including routine cleanings and exams, as well as a thorough oral health education. We instruct our teenage patients on how to brush and floss properly, the importance of keeping gum disease at bay, the types of foods to avoid in order maintain healthy teeth and gums, and other essential topics.

We also offer treatments that are designed to serve the special needs of our teen patients, including:

Invisalign®: Many teenaged patients are hesitant to receive the orthodontic treatment they need because they don’t want to wear conspicuous, uncomfortable metal braces. Invisalign® allows them to straighten their teeth with a series of clear, removable plastic aligners.
Gum disease: Gum disease does not discriminate; it can affect kids just as easily as it can adults. While proper brushing and flossing techniques can go a long way toward staving off gum disease, only professional cleanings twice a year can fully rid the mouth of the tartar that results in advanced gum disease. We encourage good dental habits young so that they can last a lifetime.
Protective mouthguards: We can provide your teen athlete with a custom mouthguard that will protect his or her teeth from harm during football, soccer, and other athletic events.
Cavity treatments: Unfortunately, cavities do happen to many teens, and we are here to restore their teeth to excellent health.