“My child has relatively better dental health and does not require any visit to the dentist.”
“ Children tend to loose their teeth as a part of their growth process, so why is it important to get this temporary set of teeth fixed?”
Such kind of questions and myths keep on arising regularly among parents.
Dental health of your child is as important as it is of yours. Children, though have the benefit of transition of dentition from temporary to permanent, yet they are not blessed enough to avoid their dental health.
Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic disease of children. The obvious habit of mid day snacking, lack of dental hygiene maintenance and everlasting love for sweets has contributed well to make tooth decay common among children.
Negligence of oral health at this stage can lead to future damage. Early Childhood Caries can lead to poorly developed permanent teeth. Milk teeth can become a passage for microbes to travel all the way down to the jaw bones and can infect the developing permanent tooth buds.
Apart from caries any other dental discrepancy including malocclusion, periodontal problem or improper jaw growth if not detected early can lead to future morbidity.
It’s not just about caries all the time, any dental discrepancy detected early in life can save the loss of tooth structure,time and money later.
Any kind of dental infection will not only affect the future dentition but will also have an impact on the overall health of the child. Bad teeth means inability to efficiently chew the food and consequent lack of nutrition. Pain following the dental infection can also disturb the child’s sleep pattern, interrupt their natural growth and increase irritation among kids.
When Should you first see a dentist to avoid dental problems?
You should visit a dentist as soon as the first tooth of your child appears in the oral cavity (around 6 months of age). Regular follow up visit following the first visit should be maintained. This won’t only give your child a healthy dentition but will also instil a healthy dental attitude in them.
What else can be done for your little ones to have healthy teeth?
“Brush twice a day, avoid sweets, rinse after meal; etc.”
These are few pronounced measures which I am pretty sure every parent must already be taking for their young ones.
Apart from these regularly followed instructions and regime, certain things which can be done are:
- Make your child eat raw vegetables like carrot or bite on hard fruits like apple to flush away all the stuck food particles in teeth.
- Consume lots and lots of dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt- this will not only supply the required regular dose of calcium but will also provide your child with probiotic to fight the decay causing bacteria.
- Ask your child to consume sweets with meals. Avoid any mid-meal snacking with sugary food items.
- Visit the dentist after every 3 months to get a topical fluoride application.
- Keep children well hydrated. Less water supply means less saliva production and hence more caries.
- Avoid sharing utensils with your child. Utensil can implant bacteria from your mouth to your child’s mouth.
- Avoid sending your baby to bed with a bottle of sweetened milk or beverage.
- Wipe the gum pads of your baby using a wet cloth before bed.
The Dentist Diary 