subject: Establish Proper Dental Care For Your Children To Ensure Oral Health For A Lifetime [print this page] When infants are born, almost all of their primary teeth have already formed-although they are not visible. Your baby's primary teeth will usually begin to erupt when he or she is about 6 months old. Some babies may begin to develop their teeth earlier, while some may get them later, which is perfectly normal. Typically, the two front bottom teeth will come in first, followed by the four upper teeth and two more bottom teeth. From here, teeth will slowly begin to fill the mouth. Your child should have all 20 primary teeth by the time he or she turns 3-years old.
Caring for Your Baby's Primary Teeth
It is important to take proper care of your child's baby teeth because they do eventually fall out. However, when they do fall out, your baby's teeth play an important role by helping your child bite and chew food, and to properly speak. Baby teeth also leave space for the permanent teeth, and help to guide them into place.
Before your child begins to develop their first tooth, you should wipe their gums with a clean damp gauze or washcloth. Once your child's teeth do come in, be sure to brush them twice a day with a soft toothbrush that has polished nylon bristles, which can be made even softer by soaking them in warm water for a few minutes. Begin using fluoridated toothpaste to brush your child's teeth when he or she is about two years of age. However, be careful to use only a small dab of toothpaste because young children tend to swallow toothpaste when brushing rather than spit it out. As soon as your child's teeth begin to touch each other, floss between them once a day. You can use regular floss or special plastic floss holders.
A leading cause of tooth decay among young children is known as "baby bottle syndrome," which is when an infant is allowed to drink from a nursing bottle containing milk, formula or fruit juice during nap time or at night and the baby falls asleep with the bottle in his or her mouth. Prolonged exposure to the sugars and acids in these liquids, that pool around the teeth, can cause discoloration and decay.
Watch Out for Unhealthy Snacks
Yes, sugary snacks always taste so good, but they are not so good for your child's teeth and body. The candies, cakes, cookies, and other sugary foods that children love so much can cause tooth decay. Starchy snacks can also break down into sugars once they are in your mouth. Bacteria live in your mouth all the time and when bacteria form a sticky material called plaque on the surface of the teeth, your chances of tooth decay greatly increase. When you put sugar in your mouth, the bacteria in the plaque eat up the sweet stuff and turn it into acids, which attack your teeth and dissolve the hard enamel that covers your teeth.
Before you give your child a snack, think about what is in the food that you have chosen. If it is loaded with sugar, then think again as another choice would be better for your teeth. Also, keep in mind that certain kinds of sweets can do more damage than others, such as gooey or chewy sweets as they spend more time sticking to the surface of your teeth. You should also think about when and how often your child eats snacks. Damaging acids form in your mouth every time you eat a sugary snack. These acids continue to affect your teeth for at least 20 minutes before they are neutralized and can't do any more harm.
Talk to your dentist in Naperville for more information on how to properly care for your children's teeth and to find out the best snacks available for them to eat.
