Pediatric dentistry focuses on providing comprehensive routine and preventive care to children from infancy through teenage years, including those with special health care needs. Our goal is to be a dental home for your children, providing the care and education that sets them up for healthy oral habits that last a lifetime.
Pediatric dentistry is specially designed for children and adolescents, providing dental care tailored to their unique needs. It’s generally recommended to start dental visits as early as the child’s first teeth come in, typically around the age of one year, to establish good oral hygiene habits and monitor dental development. However, at Dentistry for Children, we believe we can see patients as young as 6 months old.
Oral health refers to the state of the teeth, gums, and other structures in the mouth, and the absence of oral diseases or conditions that can affect overall health and well-being. Here are some tips to help children care for their oral health:
During visits, we will provide routine cleaning and examine your child’s mouth and teeth to identify and treat any oral conditions. Routine exams help us identify the risks associated with poor oral health, definitively diagnose problems and ensure proper treatment intervention when necessary. Addressing problems when they are small is safer, easier, and less traumatic for children and parents.
Some treatments during these visits include routine cleaning and fillings. We will also educate children on the importance of oral health, helping them develop good oral hygiene habits at the earliest possible age.
The goals of general pediatric dentistry are:
From seeing wonderful Orla at the front desk to all the amazing techs and tooth-moving guru Dr. Janet and world-renowned Dr. Boyd, this passionate, top-notch staff is the best family dentistry in Chicago with the most cutting-edge technology and progressive oral-care methods.
Prior to receiving his specialty license in pediatric dentistry from the University of Iowa, he earned an MSc degree from Michigan State University in Human Nutrition and Dietetics. His graduate research interests centered around the impact of commercially-processed foods on dental health and body weight. His Nutrition background has served as a great foundation for the specialty practice of Pediatric Dentistry given that many oral health problems are often associated with unhealthy eating; dental caries (cavities) and early periodontal (gum) inflammation (gingivitis) are two of the most common problems associated with unhealthy snacking behaviors.
Dr. Boyd has extensive training and clinical experience in performing risk assessment, diagnosing, and treating very young children who present with non-self-correcting malocclusions with possibly-associated sleep and breathing difficulties.
He lectures worldwide on the topics of Early Childhood Malocclusion (under 72 months), pediatric sleep breathing hygiene, and the newly emerging healthcare discipline of Evolutionary Oral Medicine, also often called Darwinian Dentistry.
He is married and has two adult daughters. When not working, he enjoys tennis, skiing and sailing.