Your Trusted Pediatric Dentist
Serving Montvale & Hoboken, NJ
Bear Brook Dental Care is a family-friendly dental office with a great team of dental professionals who are ready to provide treatments to your kids. When your baby cuts his or her first tooth or reaches the age of one, it’s time to visit a pediatric dentist. Oral health education that starts early helps ensure oral health later in life, so it’s never too early to get your young ones booked for a visit.
Dr. Tommy Lee, our pediatric dental specialist, will take great care to ensure your kids grow up with a positive outlook on oral health. Knowing that many dental phobias develop in early childhood, our team works hard to help children relax and feel confident during treatment. Our pediatric dentist will also regularly monitor the development of your children’s teeth, allowing us to offer beneficial treatments when they matter most.
How is Pediatric Dentistry Different from Family Dentistry?
Pediatric dentists must have 2-3 years of additional training just to treat children. Those added years of training makes Dr. Tommy Lee, our board-certified pediatric dentist, more qualified to work with kids than other dental professionals may be.
What to Know to Prepare for Your Child’s First Dental Visit
Visiting the dentist should be fun! Dental phobias tend to begin at the early stages of life. Don’t deter and scare your child from visiting the dentist.
Learn how to prepare for your child’s first dental visit by viewing our video.
Teeth Grinding & Thumb Sucking
Many kids tend to grind their teeth and suck their thumb, but these behaviors should be avoided as they can cause some dental issues in the future.
Children may grind their teeth for a few different reasons like:
- Stress
- Malocclusion
- Pain from earaches or teething
- Medical reasons
- An airway disorder
Teeth grinding can cause headaches, chipped teeth, loss of tooth enamel, jaw pain, and sensitive teeth.
Similar to teeth grinding, thumb sucking can cause some dental issues down the line. If your child is 4 or older and continues to suck their thumb, it’s important to wean them off of this habit as it can cause speech problems, malocclusion, and other dental problems.
Bear Brook Dental Care is here for your child to provide early orthodontic treatments for teeth grinding and thumb sucking. We’ll frequently monitor these behaviors and give your child a course of treatment that should discourage these habits before they worsen over time.
The Importance of Baby Teeth
Teeth typically begin to appear when a baby is between the ages of 6 months and 1 year old. By the time the child is 3, the child should have a full set of 20 primary baby teeth. These teeth are important to your child’s overall health and development. Baby teeth help them chew, talk, smile, and improve their self-esteem as they grow. If your child’s baby teeth aren’t taken care of properly, their permanent teeth won’t have the proper space in the jaw to develop.
Trust our board-certified pediatric dentist, Dr. Tommy Lee, to take care of your child’s baby teeth. We’re confident we can help the progression of your baby’s speech, eating, healthy growth, self-esteem, and aesthetics through our pediatric dentistry services.
Benefits of Breastfeeding
The World Health Organization recommends mothers breastfeed their infants for the first six months of the child’s life for growth and development. After the first six months, it’s recommended to continue breastfeeding up to the age of two or beyond as complementary foods are introduced.
Phase I Early Orthodontic Treatments & Space Maintainers
If our pediatric dentist notices a problem with the way your child’s jaw or teeth are aligned, we may go through the process of phase I orthodontic treatments. We may begin early orthodontic treatments if there is malocclusion, overbite, underbite, narrow jaw, or protruding teeth present. Our treatments are designed to reduce crowded and crooked teeth and gaps.
In some cases, a space maintainer is a necessary device that allows enough space to remain open for a permanent tooth to grow in after a baby tooth is lost. Without a space maintainer, the open space from a lost baby tooth poses a risk of tooth crowding and crooked teeth. Schedule a consultation with our pediatric dentists today.
Preventive Treatment
We offer comprehensive preventive treatments and regular dental care cleanings and exams. Our treatments are designed to detect oral health problems at their earliest stages before they worsen. Our dental specialists use only the latest and greatest cutting-edge technology to provide top-quality exams, cleaning, and dental x-rays for our pediatric patients. For regular dental care, Bear Brook Dental Care is here to provide thorough exams and cleanings. Schedule an appointment by calling our Montvale, NJ or Hoboken, NJ offices.
Learn more about our latest technology dental x-ray by viewing Dr. Tommy Lee’s video.
Dental Sealants
We encourage our pediatric patients to use dental sealants, so they prevent tooth decay and cavities. Our pediatric dentists place dental sealants on the grooved and pitted areas of the tooth that are hard to clean with regular brushing. Dental sealants give an extra layer of protection and keeps your child’s teeth cavity-free!
Cavity Treatments & Crowns
At Bear Brook Dental Care, we use only the best, latest technology for the safest cavity treatments and filings for our pediatric patients. When your child has a cavity, it’s important to have the tooth filled immediately so further tooth decay is prevented. Our pediatric dentists will evaluate your child’s cavities, taking into account which cavity treatment option is best. We offer white fillings and crowns for the decayed areas of the child’s tooth.
If your child is complaining of tooth pain, they could have a cavity. Our dentists understand the proper treatments for adolescent cavities, so there’s no bacterial infections or other dental problems.
Dental Extractions
At Bear Brook Dental Care, we provide dental extractions for our pediatric patients. Our extraction procedure is typically simple. It involves pulling a visible baby tooth by loosening the tooth and extracting it using forceps. The extraction usually calls for a local anesthetic.
How to Determine if a Tooth Needs Extraction:
- Extensive tooth decay
- Space preparation for orthodontic treatments
- The baby tooth doesn’t come out before the adult tooth comes in
- A tooth is diseased or damaged
Reach out to our Montvale or Hoboken, NJ offices today to schedule an appointment with our board-certified pediatric dentist.
Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas)
To help your child cope through a dental procedure, our office uses nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, to help relieve your child of anxiety. We try to create a stress-free, welcoming environment for all our patients of all ages, so they have a comfortable experience at our dental office.
We Love Your Kids!
Each member of the Bear Brook Dental Care family is dedicated to providing early education on oral hygiene and maintaining happy and healthy smiles. We strive to make each visit a fun, positive learning experience for kids, so your kids always have a positive association with visiting the dentist.
Our Kids Zone has everything your children need to stay entertained and have fun – organic toys, children’s books, video games, and kids movies. You can also enjoy drinks from our beverage bar.
Have aspects of oral hygiene or health that you, as a parent, wish to discuss? Dr. Tommy is happy to help you encourage your children to look after their teeth, gums, and smiles.
Want to make visiting the dentist a family affair? Bear Brook Dental Care also offers convenient family block appointments where doctors are only scheduled to treat your entire family – and no other patients – during your visit.
As our pediatric dental specialists, Dr. Tommy is passionate advocate for families and good oral health. He has dedicated his life and career to becoming a pediatric dentist to ensure children gain confidence in their smiles and themselves. Dr. Tommy lights up the room with his welcoming smile and immediately puts his patients at ease. Throughout his tenure at Yale, he has received the highest ratings and comments in patient satisfaction, and he brings a wealth of knowledge and life experience to every patient he encounters.
For more information on our pediatric dental specialist, contact us today to speak to a Bear Brook Dental Care team member.