If you're a dentist PLEASE READ!!! I need help for my senior project paper R.D. due Friday!!!?

Ok...I have to do a senior project in order to graduate. I'm going to use my internship at my dentist office for my internship for my project. I'm on my way to becoming a certified dental assistant and need only about 40 hours to finish. Any who... I need to write a paper and I am planning on writing about the different techniques used for the same procedure for kids and adults. For example, doing a root canal on a 10 year old vs. a 45 year old. Now I just made the procedure and ages off the top of my head. But doing the same procedure to different age groups, what you would do differently and how. And then just some basic techniques you would use. So if you're a dentist, dental assistant can you PLEASE help me. My rough draft is due Friday and it has to be min. 5 pgs. I don't know where to start or how to refine my searches. If you have websites, books, articles, ANYTHING, PLEASE let me know. This determines whether I graduate in 3 months. :)
Thank you SO SO SO much!!!!!

I don't just want to write about procedures, but also terminology, behaviors, and anything else that applies to kids and adults. I also have two other ideas for my thesis.
-Kids and nutrition and how it affects the mouth
-Working with medically and physically compromised patient.
So if you have any advice on those or the first posted topic, please help. Thank you!!!

Perhaps you could refine your project to reflect differences between baby teeth and permanent teeth.

The dentist you are working with should be able to put you on the right track. And so should a general internet search on baby teeth versus permanent teeth.

Also try the website for the American Dental Association. Check their 'A-Z Public Topics.'

I'm a dentist.

In all honesty, many of the procedures that we perform are virtually identical for children and adults. This applies to fillings, root canals, extractions, etc. etc. In situations where they are different, the differences are too in-depth and technical for the scope of your paper (for example, cavity preps on primary teeth are not supposed to break the facial and lingual contacts whereas they are supposed to do so for adult teeth). The primary difference between treating children and adults comes from behavior management (and even that, in many cases, is the same).

You mentioned root canals, which is one of the few procedures where treatment may differ slightly. The pulp system of childrens' teeth are often larger, and the root tips on young children are typically incompletely formed. In such cases, an apexification procedure may be necessary (you'll have to find out yourself what an apexification procedure is).

I'm afraid you don't have enough material to make five pages. You might consider finding a different subject.

The only major difference in our office anyways is the names we use for the dental equipment. The dental dam is a raincoat or umbrella, the sucker straw is my thirsty, we NEVER use the word shot and they never see the needle. We tell them the topical is cherry jelly and that the dentist is going to put some medicine on it to make the area feel fluffy. The HVE is the vaccum, etc. They absolutely NEVER EVER hear us say drill, shot, needle, pain, anything that might be considered scary or make them feel upset. Also, for the smaller kids we have to use a papoose board. Im not sure if you are familiar but we have a board in which the kids ankles are velcroed to the board, if the kid is unable to control themselves during a procedure then they need to be fully restrained, there legs, hands and chest area is the restrained with the papoose board. Its obviously a little scary for them but if its something that NEEDS to be done for their own health then we have no choice. For the littler kids who come in for something as simple as a cleaning, if they need restraint, we just skip it for that day cause thats not something that needs to be done asap.
We also have the kids premedicated. A few days before the appt the parents are asked to give the kids a half teaspoon of a prescription we give them for benadryl. that have to watch the kid for 30-60 minutes and let us know how he or she reacts. The kid may slow way down, get hyper active, or have no change, we just wanna know how they react to the medicine. then on the day of the appt, about 30 minutes before the appt we ask that you give your child 2 teaspoons of the medicine to act as a sedative before there appt. Sometimes the kids are able to sleep through the appt, which is easiest for everyone.
Thats all i can think of right now but if you have any more questions i'll be happy to help


forgot to mention ALOT of times when the kid cant hold still we need another assistant to come in and hold the kids head still, we use bite blocks on almost every little kid, and they always wear sunglasses, mostly to keep the light out of there eyes but it distracts them too

The basic differences in dental work between decidous teeth and permanent teeth are not that different sorry. A baby tooth gets a pulpotomy instead of a root canal. The fillings are the same. You use stainless steel crowns that are preformed on baby teeth. adult teeth get lab made crowns. The fact is , most kids have their adult teeth by the time they are 12-14. So procedures do not vary. A easier project may be the fact you inherit your parents teeth. Sometimes you can look and see they are excatly your MOM's shape , color, placement. You inherit the tendency for braces, especial if you get dad's teeth and mom's jaw.
You learn how you care for them. It used to thought dentures were just inevitable. Now we know that is not true. Lasers are making their way into the dental field. They use them for fillings,, and whitening procedures. The equipment is horrible expensive and they are making a big show in the realm of peridontics. Fillings have to be just so, or you can't use them. ANother interesting area would be implants. 20 years ago they were very un succesful and very expensive. Now a lot of general dentists have taken classess. What people don't know may also be a good topic. Implants are a three step process, painful, and have to have a special crown. The implant may be 2,500 the healing collar 500 and the crown 1500. But people ask about the implant and hear it is 2,500. See how that works.
I would pick a speciality and just surf the net. orthoddontics, periodontics, endodontics. oral surgery, and focus on that. Another interesting fact is the marketing that goes into this. type in dentist on the net. Read what each one puts forth as their " why you need to come here" The specialities have a great marketing ploy of how they treat you, what they look like, what techniques they offer, but you never know how they compare on the scale of good dentistry because you just don't know. What they say and what is won't be noticed for years after the work. You could put together the different things the sites say and compare them to the marking that goes into selling cars.. With each orthodontic case being worth 5000 you better believe they market to the general population. Just ask your self why do I go here? There are three main types of braces- why choose one over another? Like cars you get what you pay for.

I ALSO AGREE WITH NEBULA D, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION ON THE DIFFERENCES IN DENTAL TECHNIQUES FROM CHILDREN TO ADULTS TO FILL A RESEARCH PAPER. IT APPEARS THAT 5 PAGES MIGHT BE BETTER SPENT ON THE INDIVIDUAL VARIOUS DENTAL TECHNIQUES. THESE COULD EASILY FILL 5 PAGES.