Dr. Daniela Rodrigues P. Silva, DDS, MS, FACD
UCLA School of Dentistry
Section of Pediatric Dentistry
What was your motivation to pursue dentistry, and more specifically, pediatric dentistry?
Since I was an adolescent, I knew that I was going to work with children… My passion to help and serve the children was always a dominator in my life. Pediatric Dentistry is a combination of all different professions… it allows me to be an educator of good oral health habits; it allows me to decrease the level of infection a child might have in the mouth; it allows me to work with my hands and use those skills to provide the best dental treatment possible to each child that seats in my dental chair. And beyond all that, I have the opportunity to participate in the child’s life from age one and the way to young adulthood. Which other professional could have such a blessing experience?
How does dental health among the youth differ from that of adults?
The dental health itself is not different when comparing a child and an adult. The caries disease (cavities) has the same multifactorial causes (carbohydrates, biofilm-bacteria, oral hygiene and diet habits, etc). The biggest difference is that a child does not have the opportunity to select the type of diet to have or when to eat something, and when young the child cannot brush his/her teeth by herself. A child until the age of 8 or 9 does not have the appropriate hand coordination to brush his/her teeth.
Does genetics play a role in dental health, and if so, how?
Genetic plays a role in dental health when we consider the different teeth anatomy, structure and position in the arch. Also, there are some genetics role in the type of bacteria inherited related to their cariogenicity.
Has general dental treatment changed within the past decade? If so, what discoveries contributed to this?
For unknown reason, dentistry is one of the few professions that takes longer to introduce major changes.
Has your career been affected in any way due to the COVID-19 Pandemic? If so, how?
Dentistry changed significantly with COVID-19 at the very beginning of the pandemic. We were working with an unknown virus, which transmissibility was always known to happen through aerosol. In dentistry there are very few procedures that do not produce aerosol. We had to added extra protection with the PPEs (personal protection equipment). I do not see myself practicing dentistry without a face shield anymore!