Fluoride is a natural substance that helps strengthen teeth and prevent decay. Fluoride treatments are administered at this office as an important component of pediatric dental treatment. The fluoride is applied to the teeth in a varnish form.

Mouth guards can help prevent many dental injuries and are required by many sports to protect children’s teeth while they are playing. Using impressions of your child’s mouth, we will create a unique mouth guard for your child to use during activities. Our custom made mouth guards provide superior protection and the most comfortable fit for your child’s mouth.

Oraverse® is the only product on the market that reverses the effects of local dental anesthetic. It allows the normal sensation and function of the mouth to return in about half the time. This is very beneficial for children because it greatly reduces the chance for injury due to accidental biting of the lip and/or tongue.

Cosmetic bonding is the process of filling or restoring teeth with a tooth-colored material in order to maintain a natural appearance.

This technique can minimize or eliminate stains, yellowing or spots by removing a very thin layer of the tooth’s enamel.

Thumb sucking, pacifier use, lip biting, and tongue thrusting are all oral habits that may have negative side effects on the teeth and development of the jaws over the long term. For instance, thumb sucking will apply pressure that often causes constriction of the upper jaw and the upper front teeth to be protruded too far forward.
Due to the negative effects of oral habits, the goal is to eliminate oral habits as early as possible. For a motivated child, the first recommendation is a reminder and reward system. For digit sucking, a reminder would be a band-aid on the particular finger or a thin golf glove. Rewards should be given after one day, one week and one month without the habit, with bigger rewards at each level.

If the reminder/reward system is not effective, Dr. Lissauer may recommend a habit appliance. Habit appliances are custom-made based on the  habit and are typically cemented to increase effectiveness. For example, a habit appliance for thumb sucking would interfere with the sensation of the thumb being placed against the roof of the mouth.

In an ideal bite relationship, the upper back teeth are wider out towards the cheek than the lower back teeth. A Posterior Crossbite exists when a patient has the opposite bite relationship, meaning the upper teeth are inside the lower back teeth. In the situation of a posterior crossbite, the underlying issue is not just that the upper teeth are too constricted towards each other but also that the upper jaw is too narrow. The upper jaw needs to be expanded to the appropriate width, typically using a palatal expander at a young age.

A palatal expander is a custom-made, cemented appliance that uses an expansion key to widen the upper jaw. The goal is to achieve the perfect amount of expansion, not too little and not too much, so periodic appointments are scheduled with Dr. Lissauer to check the progress. After the Posterior Crossbite is corrected, the expander is removed folllowing a stabilizing period of 4-5 months.