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Written By: Logan Grover, Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: September 14, 2026 The signs of a tooth infection in kids are a gum pimple, a gray or dark tooth, face or jaw swelling, bad breath, pain that wakes them at night, chewing on one side, a loose tooth that shouldn't be loose, and fever. But pain is the least reliable sign on that list. The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme tells denti

Written By: Logan Grover, Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: September 12, 2026 If your child just had a tooth knocked out, here's the short version. Find the tooth. Pick it up by the crown, the white chewing part, and keep your fingers off the root. If it's a permanent tooth, put it straight back into the socket and have your child bite gently on a clean cloth. When that isn't possible, drop it in a cup

Written By: Logan Grover, Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: September 10, 2026 Most parents are handed a two-way choice. Silver crown or white crown. Pick one. That choice is missing an option, and it's missing the question that matters more than color. When your child needs a crown on a baby tooth, the thing that changes their appointment isn't the shade. It's how much of the tooth has to come off, and w

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: September 6, 2026 The signs of weak enamel in children are chalky white patches, yellow or brown marks on the back molars, teeth that hurt with cold drinks, rough or pitted chewing surfaces, and new cavities that show up even when brushing is fine. Most of those signs trace back to 1 of 3 different problems, and the 3 don't get the same tr

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 31, 2026 Early orthodontic treatment can lower the odds that your child ever needs jaw surgery. It can't promise to prevent it, and any office that guarantees that is overselling. Most articles skip the part that matters most: the strongest evidence for treating early has nothing to do with surgery at all. A 2018 Cochrane review fou

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 29, 2026 If your child's filling or crown just came out, do this: stay calm, find the piece and save it if you can, keep your child on soft foods, and call your pediatric dentist to be seen in the next day or two. Do not try to glue it back in. Call the same day if there's swelling, bleeding, a broken or knocked tooth, or real pain.

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 27, 2026 Most articles about sedation dentistry for special needs children open by selling you on sedation. We start by trying to avoid it. At Mini Miners Pediatric Dentistry in Erie, Colorado, sedation is the last rung on a ladder that begins with a no-treatment "Happy Visit" and no-drill options like the Hall crown. Some children

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 25, 2026 Take your child to see an orthodontist for a first check by age 7. That is the recommendation from the American Association of Orthodontists, and it holds even if the teeth look straight. Here is the part most parents miss: that first visit is a screening, not the start of braces. Most 7-year-olds who get checked do not nee

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 23, 2026 Caring for your child's dental crown comes down to a handful of small habits, and most of them match what you already do on every other tooth. Brush it twice a day. Floss around it. Skip sticky candy and hard ice for a few days while the gum settles. The crown itself, whether it's a silver stainless steel cap or a white zir

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 21, 2026 If your child has a dental procedure coming up with sedation, the right preparation depends on one thing most guides skip: which type of sedation your child is getting. Nitrous oxide needs almost no prep. Oral and deep sedation need fasting, a recovery plan, and usually two adults on the day. This guide walks Erie parents t

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 17, 2026 The most useful credential a special needs pediatric dentist can have is one most parents never think to ask about. Board certification matters. So does a decade of doing fillings. But a dentist who understands how an autistic or anxious child reads a new room, a new sound, and a stranger's hands will do more good than one

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 15, 2026 A child can brush twice a day, floss, skip the soda, and still walk out of a checkup with a cavity. That is not a discipline problem, and it is usually not your fault. Brushing removes plaque. It does nothing about enamel that formed defective before the tooth erupted, cavity-causing bacteria passed from a parent's spoon, s

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 13, 2026 Parents ask me about nitrous oxide vs sedation for kids almost every week. The short answer: they are not the same thing. Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) keeps your child awake and alert, works in about five minutes, and clears just as fast. Sedation is a wider group of options. It runs from a light medicine that makes your ch

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 11, 2026 Most children's toothaches can wait until morning. A few can't, and telling a real pediatric dental emergency from an ordinary ache takes about a minute once you know the signs. One fact surprises parents more than any other. If your child knocks out a baby tooth, don't put it back in. Do that with a knocked-out adult tooth

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 9, 2026 A cavity can take shape on a baby tooth in about six months. That's the honest answer to the question I hear most from Erie parents about children's teeth cleaning: do baby teeth really need it if they're going to fall out anyway? Yes. The enamel on a baby tooth is thinner than adult enamel, so decay reaches the nerve faster

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 7, 2026 If your child's permanent tooth just got knocked out, you have about 15 minutes to give it the best shot at surviving. That one fact drives nearly every choice you're about to make. So here's the first move: stay calm, find the tooth, pick it up by the white crown (never the root), and call your pediatric dentist right now.

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 05, 2026 Yes, kids with autism do have more dental issues, but probably not the way you’ve been told. The popular line is that autistic children get more cavities. Look at the research and a different picture shows up. Most studies find little difference in the number of cavities between autistic and non-autistic kids. What’s higher

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: August 03, 2026 Most children with autism can finish a dental cleaning awake, and they often handle far more than their parents expect. Dr. Alison Grover, who owns Mini Miners Pediatric Dentistry in Erie, Colorado, studied child psychology at Wellesley College before her pediatric dental residency at UCLA, and she says the same thing after

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: September 2, 2026 Your child's new crown is the part you don't have to worry about. A 2025 meta-analysis of crowns on baby teeth put five-year retention at 97.88% for stainless steel and 97.09% for zirconia. The cap almost never fails. What fails is the thin seam where the crown meets the gum, and that comes down to how you brush and floss

Written By: Logan Grover, Health Content Writer Reviewed By: Dr. Alison Grover, Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist Last Reviewed: Aug 01, 2026 A comprehensive pediatric dental exam is a full check of your child's teeth, bite, gums, jaw growth, and mouth habits, plus a cleaning, fluoride, and a plan for what comes next. It is more than scraping off plaque. One thing became clear after my husband and I built Mini Miners from four patients in 2017 into the Erie, Colorad