The Transition from a Pediatric Dentist to a General Dentist

Pediatric dentists are a counterpart of pediatricians in the dental field. We have all gone through the same training as general dentists for the first four years of our dental school, but then we spent an additional two to three years learning about pediatric specific issues such as growth and development, orthodontics, child psychology, and behavior management.

Our teams are highly skilled and educated in those fields, and above all, we love children of all ages. Our team is happy seeing babies and discussing teething, pacifier habits, and early toothbrushing lessons. We also love guiding toddlers and young children on the importance of healthy diet and independent brushing and flossing. We can guide timid and worried children through fillings and other dental procedures by wowing them with movies, toys, stories, and “magic.” We are good at talking to teens about motivation with brushing, braces care, orthodontic needs, and guidance throughout their orthodontic treatment. We are happy to discuss diet and healthy lifestyles, and we absolutely love helping to guide our teens through those challenging high school years.

Some of our patients choose to move to a general dental office during high school years to make it easier on their family life. Some patients are better suited for general dental offices as they might have more complicated treatment needs such as crowns or periodontal complications needing specific tools we do not have. Some patients, however, like to stay with us as long as they can and we are happy treating them all the way through college to make it easier in the time of so many changes. Once these young adults are done with college, we offer what we call a “graduation celebration cleaning” and then we will refer them to our amazing colleagues, who are much more experienced in adult dental care. We provide referrals to general dentists in our area, but our dental network is vast and we can use it to recommend dentists in other areas of the country as well.

Please feel free to talk to us about any questions when you are considering transitioning from pediatric dentistry to general dentistry. We love seeing kids and becoming friends with the whole family. Over the years we have made many friends, laughed, cried, and shared various experiences with our wonderful families. But we also know that when the time comes to say goodbye, we will happily let them go and hope to see their kids one day in the future!

Dr. Lindhorst, Dr. Theriot and our Smiles For Kids Team