Some people would have you believe that caring for your toddlers teeth is not important, that it’s the adult teeth that are the most important. This is not entirely true.
Baby teeth are important to help your child’s face and jaw develop properly, and hold the proper space for adult teeth to grow.
They need healthy teeth to bite and chew food, and painful and decaying teeth can limit food intake and can slow their body from growing.
Severe infections can cause dental abscesses and general health problems, and can cause older children to become self conscious as a result of black or broken teeth and smelly breath.
There are a number of rumours that breastfeeding causes tooth decay; this is not true. Breasktmilk actually protects against tooth decay. Bottle fed babies and toddlers are found to have a higher risk of having tooth decay, even higher if they are bottle fed over night.
It is best to start brushing your child’s teeth when they first start to cut through. Starting with once a day and gradually moving up to twice a day as they get more teeth is ideal.
Use a small, soft bristled toothbrush without toothpaste until at least two years old. You can then introduce a low fluoride toothpaste until around the age of 8 when your child can then use a normal adult toothpaste.
Do not scrub your child’s teeth, brush them gently in a circular motion on top, behind and in front of each of your child’s teeth.
If your child loses a tooth prematurely due to a accident, do not try to put the tooth back as this can cause more trauma to the gum and growing adult teeth. Seek dental help as soon as possible to manage possible trauma to the lip, gums, tongue or cheeks. Failure to do so can cause damage to the developing adult teeth and gums.
Majority of babies and young children will resist having their teeth brushed, do not give in.
No comments:
Post a Comment