After your child's fluoride or sealants
For parents and carers after a fluoride varnish or sealants were placed.
Call us if…
- Your child chewed their lip or cheek while numb and it is swollen or bleeding.
- A sealant comes off, or a tooth feels rough or sharp afterwards.
- Your child complains of pain in a treated tooth over the following days.
- A rash, hives or any swelling appears after the visit.
Cherry Ave: (562) 422-683810th St: (562) 438-2500
Any swelling of the face, lips or tongue with difficulty breathing after a dental visit is an emergency — call 911.
After fluoride varnish
- Do not brush their teeth until the next morning — the varnish needs to stay on the teeth to work.
- Soft, cool food for the rest of the day. Nothing crunchy or hot.
- The teeth may look slightly dull or yellow where the varnish sits. It brushes off tomorrow.
- They can eat and drink normally after about thirty minutes unless we said otherwise.
After sealants
- Sealants are hard as soon as they are placed, so your child can eat straight away.
- Avoid sticky sweets and ice chewing, which pull sealants off.
- They may feel a little different to the tongue for a day. That is normal.
- We check the sealants at every visit and top them up if one wears.
If they had numbing
- Watch them closely until the numbness wears off. Children bite and chew a numb lip or cheek without realising, and it swells badly afterwards.
- Keep them to soft, cool food and drinks until feeling returns, usually one to three hours.
- Tell them the lip feels "big and sleepy" rather than that it is numb — they are less likely to chew it.