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Welcome to Little Smiles Pediatric Dentistry
At Little Smiles Pediatric Dentistry we are dedicated to providing specialized and comprehensive dental care for infants, children and adolescents in a friendly and safe environment with a focus on prevention and education. Our goal is to provide kids with a healthy smile and positive attitude toward dental care. We enjoy serving families in North Idaho and Spokane including Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Sandpoint, Bonner's Ferry, Kellogg, St. Maries, and Liberty Lake.
Philosophy of Care
Kids and dentistry can be a challenging combination - sort of like giving a cat a bath. Some children will barely tolerate the exam while others will try to get out of the situation by any means possible.
Each child's personality and mental development is different depending on age, life experiences, and genes. Our approach is to treat each child based on the child's temperament and emotional development. Thus, sedation medications, hospital treatment & other treatment solutions recommended are based on our impression of the ability of the child to handle dental treatment both mentally and physically.
We do not want to traumatize a child. There are situations such as emergencies which require restraint of a child without the convenience of conscious sedation medication.
"I treat each child as I would treat my own child!"
The following guidelines are used as recommendations made to parent/guardian regarding their child's dental needs. These decisions are to be made together with Dr. Barlow & the child's parent/guardian. Treatment recommendations to the parent/guardian are usually based on how much dental work the child needs, the child's age & mental development and capacity.
Young kids (especially 1-5 years old) usually do not cope well with dental treatment. Older kids (6 years & older) usually have more mental and emotional development or capacity to deal with receiving dental treatment in the office.
For younger children, we prefer limiting dental treatment visits (for fillings & more extensive treatment) to 1-2 appointments. If a young child (1-5 year olds) has extensive treatment needs. (8-20 teeth need treatment), one appointment in the operating room is much easier on the child due to their mental development & capacity. Outpatient treatment in the hospital is a quick and safe treatment alternative.
A sedation appointment usually allows for treatment of 1-5 teeth depending on how well the child reacts to the sedation medications.
Ideally, for older kids (6 year olds & older), we prefer to keep the number of treatment appointments to 2 or 3 visits for fillings & more extensive treatment. "It has been my observation through experience that after 2-3 appointments, a child's behavior declines very quickly. They have usually had enough. We can reduce the number of appointments by sedating a patient. This makes coping with treatment easier."
"The kindest way to restrain a child is usually to sedate them in order to help them emotionally cope with dental treatments."
"It is my strong recommendation that during dental treatment, parents remain in the waiting room. Kids tend to act out when parents are in the room. Treatment is more successful when the patient focuses on the dentist, his staff & the work that needs to be done."
A parent and dentist should be able to trust one another. We trust that you will allow us to help you treat your child with your child's best interest in mind. We expect the parents to trust our team... we will always try to do what's best for your child!
Children's dental health is very important to overall health and well being. It can affect day-to-day living, eating habits, sleeping patterns and mood.
Major dental treatment for a child should not be postponed. Large or numerous cavities can eventually turn into facial infections which could become very dangerous. In some instances, these dental infections become very large and are at risk to spread to the child's airway or brain. This is a serious emergency situation!
We invite parents to communicate openly with us regarding their child's dental health. Every parent may not agree with our approach to treatment. We believe in the philosophy outlined here is tried and tested in our experience in working with kids & their families. We hope you will communicate with us any concerns or questions you may have. If you feel it necessary to seek consultation elsewhere, please let us know.
We hope to be able to work with you in taking care of your child's dental needs. Thank you for putting your trust in us!
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