This is an area of our reception room dedicated to children. Even the youngest patients are drawn to the miniature dental chair in Dr. Little’s Gentle Dental Center.
Children love to pretend to be the dentist, busily working on the specially made beaver, crocodile, and hippopotamus. Or they sit down behind the “reception” desk to play on the telephone or color the dental word puzzles and pictures.

A Comprehensive Approach to the Oral Health of Children
From the Prenatal Stage Through to Adulthood.

Slideshow imageRESPECT AND CARING
We respect the individuality of each child and treat them with the same care we would our own children. When children know that we like and care about them they become good patients who are willing to listen and learn.

PREVENTION
The best mode of dentistry is the preventive model; it is never too early to start:

  • PRENATAL We encourage our female patients who are pregnant to have appropriate dental care during their pregnancy. We know that gum problems can occur during pregnancy, and they have been implicated with low birth weight babies. We also know that babies and young children who do not get tooth decay or also the most likely to escape it as adults. The time to begin educating the parent is before the baby is born.
  • INFANTS We recommend seeing children for a screening and an information session at the age of one year, and again at two years. We teach parents how to clean the infant’s teeth from the time they erupt, make valuable suggestions about diet, and discuss issues such as thumb sucking.
  • CHILDREN At age three we encourage regular dental visits. That gives us the opportunity to check for decay, tooth eruption and alignment. We show parents how to help in cleaning the child’s teeth and we discuss food and beverage choices. By age 4-5 we begin fluoride treatments and as time goes on we make suggestions for sealants and orthodontic referral when necessary.
  • TEENS These years are crucial because teen-agers are solely responsible for their own home care. It is also at this age that poor choices in food, and particularly sugared beverages (such as pop) can cause serious problems. In a respectful manner we give teens the information to make smart choices and provide whatever dental treatment is necessary to restore their teeth to a healthy state.


From before birth through the teen years,
the Metzger team offers a comprehensive children's dentistry program.