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Kid Friendly Dentist in Matteson, IL

Why Kid-Friendly Dentists Matter

  • Positive Dental Experiences: Kid-friendly dentists create a welcoming and comfortable environment for children, helping to alleviate anxiety and fear associated with dental visits.
  • Early Intervention and Prevention: They are equipped with specialized training to identify and address potential issues early on, such as tooth decay, improper tooth alignment, and oral habits (e.g., thumb sucking).
  • Building Trust and Communication: Kid-friendly dentists empower children to take an active role in their dental health, creating a positive foundation for a lifetime of good oral care habits.
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    The Guide Will Show You

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    What You Should Know

    As a parent, you naturally want what is best for your child. Many parents are unaware of how oral health and dental care plays into that. According to the Center for Disease Control, tooth decay (cavities) is the number one most commonly occurring infectious disease among children. This leads to children experiencing toothaches in high numbers, missing days from school, and experiencing overall discomfort. Tooth decay is not a trivial thing, but a condition that can create significant discomfort for your child and even make it difficult for them to eat, speak clearly, and engage in normal daily activities. If you live in the 60443 area and think that this won’t happen to your child, statistically, it most likely will. Brushing and flossing at home will help, but it isn’t enough. You need to bring your child to our kid friendly dentist office twice a year so that we can examine and clean their teeth in order to remove the plaque and bacteria that can lead to cavities in the first place.

    Resources You Can Use at Home

    In addition to visiting our kid friendly dentist office, it is important that you practice good oral hygiene at home and teach your child to do the same. In our dental office, we work with a lot of children under age eight and understand how challenging it can be to get them excited about brushing teeth. Kids are busy and asking them to stop riding bikes, building Legos, or playing dress up to brush their teeth can lead to conflict fairly quickly. We get it. At Progressive Dental & Associates, we are experts in working with young children and are under no illusion that they are fascinated by oral health. Our job, however, is to change their opinion of dental care and show them that it can be fun and interesting. This way they will want to brush and floss their teeth, even without being told. With that in mind, we have a few resources that we have found to be helpful and suggest that you try them at home.

    If you live in or around Matteson, IL we invite you to schedule an appointment with our dental office so that we can examine your child’s teeth and teach them how to brush properly. Even if your child is already brushing, there is a good chance that they are doing it wrong and missing a lot of the plaque that has built up on their teeth. A simple video tutorial is a resource you can use at home. You can find one on the American Dental Association’s website or even on YouTube. Playing a video that shows your child how to brush is a good reminder for them and, since they are used to receiving information this way, they are likely to receive and digest it better than if you reminded them.

    Once your child is brushing correctly, it is time to turn your attention to how long they are brushing for. At Progressive Dental & Associates we encourage all of our patients to brush for two minutes, twice a day, regardless of how old they are. This, however, can be difficult for young children that find it hard to focus on a task or to stay still. As a kid friendly dentist, we want them to brush their teeth but staying still isn’t a requirement. Try making it fun to brush teeth by playing their favorite song for two minutes and letting them dance and brush. You can also play a two-minute video clip or cartoon for them while brushing. The American Dental Association has an entire section of their website devoted to these short videos and watching them will get your child used to brushing for the full two minutes. We have worked with families throughout the 60443 area and have found that using media works far better than standing there with a stopwatch. The goal is to create positive associations between dental care and having fun so that your child will continue to brush their teeth as they grow.

    Prevention

    As a kid friendly dentist office in Matteson, we are focused on preventative care. It is far better for your child to visit us for a regular teeth cleaning than to only see us with a toothache. Fortunately, by using preventative care methods we can help your child to avoid experiencing any dental discomfort. In addition to cleaning their teeth, one of the ways that we do so is with dental sealant. Many children have deep ridges in their teeth. When they bite down and chew food, bacteria, food particles, and plaque can become trapped in those ridges and eventually they will create tooth decay. These areas are particularly difficult to clean with a toothbrush alone, so even the most fastidious of parents may find it challenging to keep cavities at bay. By using dental sealant, a protective layer is placed onto the teeth so that nothing can become stuck in these ridges. The procedure is painless and fast since all we need to do is brush a material onto the teeth and allow it to harden. At Progressive Dental & Associates, we have found this to be a simple way to prevent our young patients from getting cavities.

    Regular Fluoride Treatments

    Another tool for prevention is our regular fluoride treatments. We recommend that all children have this throughout their teenage years. If you aren’t on public water, this is particularly important for preventing cavities.

    Statistically, if your child has a fluoride treatment in our dental office, their risk for getting cavities decreases by thirty percent. This is significant when you are considering the overall health and wellbeing of your child. With that in mind, we use whatever tools are at our disposal to ensure that your child is as healthy and as comfortable as possible both now and as they age.

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    Meet Our Doctor

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    Robert D. Durr, D.M.D. F.I.C.O.I.

    Robert D. Durr, D.M.D.

    Dr. Robert D. Durr graduated from Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine.

    Dr. Durr attends countless hours of continuing education at post-doctoral symposiums all over the country every year. Dr. Durr is a fellow of the International Congress of Oral Implantology and member of DOCS. Since he began practicing dentistry, he has kept up-to-date on many of the latest products, procedures and dental technology, ensuring that his patients receive the most comprehensive and advanced dental care possible.

    Testimonials From Our Patients

    We are thrilled to offer exceptional services that exceed expectations!
    Patty Cahue
    December 12, 2023
    I highly recommend Dr Durr at Preogressive Dental in Matteson, he and his Staff are kind and caring. Dr Durr is very gentle when caring for your teeth. He also explains what the plan of care is before he treats you and is letting you what he is doing as he goes!! His assistant is there making sure you are ok at all time.. I love the office staff!!
    Andrea Wiley
    November 28, 2023
    Dr. Durr office took care of my problem right away. They were very prompt and showed exceptional care. I appreciate all the I tentativeness on my teeth. Thank you so much ☺️
    Romaine C
    November 9, 2023
    The service was really great!! They all definitely made me feel comfortable about the procedure that I was going to be getting done. The staff was amazing! I definitely recommend them!!
    Michael Usher
    October 24, 2023
    Always great service. Every time I come best Dentist office in the city. I would tell you to come by, but I don’t want you to know about my hidden jewels Progressive Dental
    Edwina Thomas-Bull
    October 23, 2023
    I am doing this review for my husband Robert. He says that his experience was awesome! The assistants are awesome & the dentist was fantastic. He says makes him more comfortable thinking about any future visits he may have since he’s always apprehensive & nervous about dental visits. Great place he says
    Andrea Siegmeyer
    October 3, 2023
    Staff was very friendly and professional. Dr. Durr was kind and gentle. Did not feel rushed and he answered all of my questions. He even asked permission to touch my teeth because I told him I was having pain. No dentist has ever done that. I am an extremely fearful patient and I felt comfortable and cared for during my visit. Thank you!
    Donna G
    September 26, 2023
    I’ve had a good experience working with the Progressive Team. The office is very clean, the staff is polite and very prompt, the longest I’ve waited was maybe 5 minutes. So you can beat that.
    Nadine
    September 11, 2023
    Today was my first visit to the dental office. I must say, everyone from the reception desk to the exam room were exceptionally nice and helpful. Dr. Durr was excellent and answered all of my questions.

    Come Visit Us

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