Miguel Facal has been a professor and coordinator of pediatric dentistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela since 1990, coming from a family saga of dentists.

"Parents must be educated as responsible for the oral health of the young child."

Q.- How would you improve dental care for children in Vigo?

A.- Luckily in Vigo there are very good dentistry professionals, however the child is a special patient with very different psychological characteristics from the adult and that must be taken into account when having him as a patient. The professional who treats them should be a person with some very special characteristics. In the first place, children must like it, they will have special patience, they must be talkative, friendly, work fast... If the dentist does not have these characteristics, they should make a special effort when treating them or refer them to another clinic where there is staff formed in that sense.

Q.- When is it recommended to take the child to the dentist for the first time?

A.- Not long ago it was thought that dental problems, especially in the smallest, should be postponed to ages in which they could provide greater collaboration. Today we are clear that problems can be solved as soon as they appear, and for this there are methods. Since the child has teeth, it is susceptible to being treated, and these early treatments will avoid more severe and expensive ones at later ages. Among other things we will avoid future orthodontic problems, pain, aesthetics, etc.

In addition, children who are taken to the dentist from a very young age to perform their regular periodicals face the dental situation much better when any treatment is needed, than those who come for the first time when they already have the problem. In the first case, the dental environment was made known to them and the professionals without trauma or discomfort, transferred time to incorporate it as something normal in their lives.

But there is one more argument for taking children to the dentist as soon as possible, since one of the objectives of the first visit is to educate parents as responsible for the oral health of the young child. That is why this first visit would be justified even before the child is born, to make the future mother aware of preventive strategies (plaque control, diet, fluoride...

Q.- Where is the best dental care given to children in Europe? Where in that ranking would you place Galicia?

A.- In Spain, measures aimed at improving the health of children have been incorporated from the institutions, in a similar way in all the autonomies, but we are still not at the level of some European countries around us. I suppose that when we have abandoned the crisis things will improve. Meanwhile, the attention provided by social security is limited to carrying out preventive measures such as fissure sealants, fluoridation, and only treating the definitive pieces of child patients. Come on, the politicians responsible for our health have a lot to offer in this regard.

Q.- What recommendations would you make to political institutions regarding how to improve children's hygienic-preventive habits and diet?

A.- The one who must be educated in this sense is the parents of the children, and of course you can run campaigns in the different media, as well as in schools, institutes, etc. In this sense, I am sure that professional associations are always willing to collaborate in this regard. What is needed is the will to do it, because that would not be expensive. Dietary advice on how to minimize the risk of cavities without having to stop consuming sugars, making it known, for example, that the amount of sugar consumed is not what most influences cavities. There are other factors such as the frequency of consumption, the more times sugar comes into contact with the teeth, the greater the danger, regardless of the amount. The time of day at which they are consumed since they are more dangerous near bedtime and the consistency of the sugary food that can be more or less sticky, since the more sticky the longer it will remain in contact with the teeth and the greater the risk there will be cavities It will be necessary to give advice on the use of fluoride at home, and educate by letting them know that fluoride does not present any risk as long as it is not ingested and everything else is beneficial. Instill the habit of brushing from a very young age by making parents responsible for the effectiveness of that brushing, etc.

Q.- Why did you dedicate yourself to this profession? What pushed you to it?

A.- I come from a line of dentists. I am a grandson, son, brother of dentists and now I also have nephews in this profession. It was almost expected that I would dedicate myself to the tooth. Why did I specialize in Pediatric Dentistry? Well, because when I finished Dentistry I wanted to continue training, and at the University of Madrid taught very well, I like everything related to the world of children, and in Vigo, where I wanted to settle, there was no dentist specializing in children. There I would fill a void for sure. Although I started from the beginning as an exclusive pediatric dentist, my idea was to do general dentistry over time, but I found myself comfortable and I didn't change anymore. I continue to treat only children from that beginning.

Ania Casal. 2022