Warren Dentist Discusses Children’s Teeth
Hi I’m Dr. Greg Apsey here in Warren, Michigan. You can reach me at 586-573-7700 for appointments. I’d like to speak today about children, babies really and the developing dentition and how to prevent problems for your child’s teeth. First of all children’s teeth begin to erupt into the mouth at about 6 months. There’s a wide range of what’s, of what’s normal. They may not even start erupting until 1 year of age. My daughter waited until 1 year before getting any teeth and so it’s nothing to worry about if your child starts late in their eruption of their teeth. What I’d like to speak on though is how to prevent that early childhood decay that can happen. There are a few tips that you should know.
First of all the bacteria that cause tooth decay are transmissible. Which means that if you yourself, the mother or the father or anybody that’s caring for the baby has tooth decay that means that they have in their mouth the types of bacteria that cause tooth decay. It is a bacterial problem. So our recommendation is that there is no transfer of saliva from mother or caregiver or father to the baby. Meaning if there’s a pacifier being used or if anything’s been used and it needs to be cleaned, rather than wiping it off in your mouth. Clean it under the water, under the faucet, in that way you prevent the transmission of bacteria from you know yourself to the baby.
That’s first thing, secondly many times we give our child a bottle for, to give them comfort during the day or even at night. But it’s very risky if there’s any sort of sugar or fruit juice or milk in that liquid, because the sugar, if the child has any of the bacteria in their mouth that cause decay. Any sugars that are given for a long period of time through the day are going to be converted by the bacteria into acids. And those acids will begin eroding and damaging the teeth. And unfortunately we still do see sometimes fairly severe decay, in very young children. And it’s generally a result of a baby being put to bed with a bottle, or being allowed to hold on to a bottle throughout the day. Really what we recommend is that there are feeding times and there are between times, and if the baby needs a bottle between meals, the only thing that should be in the bottle should be water.
We also recommend that you begin as early as soon as the teeth begin coming into the mouth, and actually it can be very comforting to the baby, we recommend that you begin cleaning the teeth. In fact there are very soft toothbrushes, meant for the very early dentition. You can also use a washcloth. A baby needs to understand that having his or her teeth cleaned on a regular basis, after each meal is normal and fun and it can be a little bonding moment between you and your child. You definitely should be brushing your child’s teeth until age 4 or 5 when they’re able to really start doing it themselves. The main thing is healthy diet for the baby.
In between meals make sure that they’re not getting sugars or acids and that you’re brushing at their teeth from the beginning. We also recommend that your child start having dental visits at least by age 2, you can even bring the baby in as early as age 1. And we call these initial visits Well-Baby visits and they’re mainly done again to get the child used to the idea that coming to the dentist is part of the routine. And, sometimes what helps is if you, yourself, are going to be having a simpler, shorter visit. It might be nice to bring the baby in when you’re in for your visit. And then afterwards the doctor can take a look at the baby’s teeth. Generally what we have in the beginning are very simple, quick visits and there’s nothing scary about those visits we really try to make them fun especially around age 2 it’s a little easier to start you know teaching a child about what they’ll have to deal with there the water squirter and the suction and we can have a lot of fun. And we can give them a ride up and down the in the chair. Generally those visits at the beginning are very calm. And we try to really keep dentistry fun for kids always. So the more we see them, the more we can talk with them about good oral hygiene and good diet the better habits will develop and the better their mouths will be.
Thanks for listening.
Warren Dentist Discusses Children’s Teeth
For further questions regarding children’s teeth, or to schedule an appointment for you child, please call our Warren office at (586) 573-7700.