Recognizing and Plugging the Gaps Toward Holistic Pediatric Dental Care

Abstract

Pediatric dentistry is the most versatile branch of dentistry that caters to the dental needs of infants to young adults. Pediatric dentists believe in delivering comprehensive oral health care and aim at providing welfare to the child as a whole. Various researches are been carried about the treatment modalities and material science, but literature lacks details about the role of a pediatric dentist in the fields such as dental neglect, child abuse, and sports dentistry. Pediatric dentists play a major role in recognizing, managing, and treating children of child abuse. In the similar way, they are also making an effort to spread awareness to eradicate dental neglect. Dental trauma during sports can be also be prevented with appliances such as custom-made mouthguards provided by the pediatric dentists. With the increase in competition and expectations from children, development of bruxism due to stress has increased significantly; hence, it is a major concern for paedodontists to treat such patients before they develop severe symptoms. This review article intends to highlight upon the role of a pediatric dentist in such scenarios.