National Children's Dental Health Month: Baby teeth matter!

 

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month! Here are some facts about children’s teeth and tips for childhood tooth care:

Baby teeth are important. Children need to have healthy, strong baby teeth to eat, speak, and smile.  Just because children lose their baby teeth, “decay is not okay.” 

Babies are born with their baby teeth already formed under the gums. Baby tooth care should start early, before the teeth appear in the mouth! A baby’s gums should be gently wiped with a soft, damp cloth after drinking a bottle or eating. This gets baby used to his or her mouth being cleaned. 

Baby teeth start to come in at about 4 - 7 months of age. As soon as the first little tooth appears, it can be brushed with a soft toothbrush and a tiny smear of toothpaste, about the size of a grain of rice.

Gum pain gels are not necessary and can cause a rare but life-threatening condition called methemoglobinemia. It is better to let baby chew on a cold cloth or spoon if teething. This should relieve baby’s discomfort.

Always use a separate spoon to test baby’s food. Caregivers and parents can spread their own mouth’s germs this way. This is especially important if a caregiver has cavities or gum problems.

Never put baby to bed with a bottle with formula, milk or juice. Toddlers should not walk around with a sippy cup with formula, milk or juice.  These drinks are for meals. Frequent exposure to the sugar in them can destroy baby teeth quickly. Children should be encouraged to drink only water between meals.

Lift the lip to check baby’s teeth at least once a month. White spots or lines near the gums may be the start of cavities. Baby teeth should be smooth and all one color. White, brown or black spots indicates cavities. If the teeth are being wiped or brushed daily, this should not happen.

By the time kids are 3 years old, they will have 20 teeth! Teeth should be brushed twice a day, using a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste on a soft child-sized tooth brush. 

Children start to lose their front teeth at about 6-7 years of age. The loss of front baby teeth and the front permanent teeth coming in are obvious. Not so obvious are the first permanent molars that erupt in the back of the mouth around the same age, making daily brushing and flossing all the more important.

Flossing, too? Yes. While baby teeth usually have space between them that the tooth brush can reach, sometimes they don’t. As soon as “teeth touch” they should be flossed to remove plaque germs that grow in between the teeth.

Baby teeth fall out over time. Kids may still have some until they are 12-13 years old. Baby teeth hold the space for the permanent teeth coming in. Tooth crowding due to early tooth loss can increase risk of decay, gum problems, and needing braces.

Cavities are the NUMBER ONE chronic disease in children, more common than asthma. A cavity is a bacterial infection in a tooth!

Dental pain affects a child’s ability to learn and thrive. Dental emergencies cost parents and kids thousands of lost school and work hours. Emergency room visits for non-traumatic dental visits have risen to over $3.5 billion dollars annually.

The cost of an amalgam (silver) filling can be well over $100 dollars depending on how much of the tooth surface is affected. Composite (white) fillings cost even more. If a tooth needs to be “capped” it can run into thousands of dollars! Compare that to the cost of a toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss.

Dental decay is preventable! Brushing and flossing at least twice a day keeps cavities away. Diets high in sugar and sugar sweetened beverages also lead to cavities. A well-balanced diet helps the mouth and the body stay healthy!

Preventing childhood cavities is so important and can be easy to do but young children need a hand. Pediatricians and dentists recommend the first dental visit by age one. Children up until age nine should have help and supervision while brushing.

Please visit the websites listed below for more on the information found in this article and additional resources.

Resources and sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/oral-health/index.html

https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/national-childrens-dental-health-month

https://wicworks.fns.usda.gov/topic/health-observances/national-childrens-dental-health-month

https://oralhealthsupport.ucsf.edu/news/dental-care-in-crisis-tracking-the-cost-and-prevalence-emergency-department-visits-for-non-traumatic

This blog and its posts are not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or advise about any dental or medical condition. Please see your dentist or doctor for any treatment or information you need regarding your health.

LA is hip on teeth

Lights, camera, action! Los Angeles may be known as the movie capital of the world, but did you know they are so 'with it' when it comes to tooth health? LA County has embarked on a massive campaign around tooth health on social media, TV, and radio. Included are great videos and engaging materials to bring the health of the mouth, especially for children, top of mind. 

Here is an adorable video they created:

  

Check out the entire campaign here:

https://choosehealthla.com/Teeth/

It's Children's Dental Health Month - Baby teeth matter!

It’s National Children’s Dental Health Month! Here are some facts about children’s teeth and tips for childhood tooth care:

 Baby teeth are important: Just because children lose their baby teeth, it does not mean “decay is okay.” Children need to have healthy, strong baby teeth to eat, speak, and smile.

Babies are born with their baby teeth already formed under the gums. This means that baby tooth care needs to start in infancy, before the teeth appear in the mouth! A baby’s gums should be gently wiped with a soft, damp cloth after drinking a bottle or eating. This gets baby used to his or her mouth being cleaned. As soon as the first little tooth appears, it can be brushed with a soft toothbrush using a tiny smear of fluoride toothpaste.

Gum pain gels are not necessary and

can cause a rare but life-threatening condition called methemoglobinemia. It is better to let baby chew on a cold cloth or spoon if “teething.” This should relieve baby’s discomfort.

Always use a separate spoon to test baby’s food. Caregivers and parents spread their own mouth’s germs this way. This is especially important if a caregiver has cavities or gum problems.

Never put baby to bed with a bottle with formula, milk or juice. Don’t let a toddler walk around with a sippy cup with formula, milk or juice. These drinks are for meals. The sugar in them can destroy baby teeth pretty quickly. Children should only drink water between meals.

Lift the lip to check baby’s teeth at least once a month. White spots or lines near the gums may be the start of cavities. Baby teeth should be smooth and all one color. White, brown or black spots indicates cavities. If the teeth are being wiped or brushed daily, this should not happen.

Children start to lose their front teeth at about 6-7 years of age, so those front permanent teeth coming in are obvious. Not so obvious are the first permanent molars that erupt in the back of the mouth around the same age. If daily brushing and flossing aren’t already being done, that can hurt those teeth!

Flossing, too? Yes. While baby teeth usually have space between them that the tooth brush can reach, sometimes they don’t.

As soon as “teeth touch” they should be flossed to remove plaque germs that grow in between the teeth.

Baby teeth fall out over time and kids still have some of them until they are 12-13 years old. Baby teeth hold the space for the permanent teeth coming in.

Cavities are the NUMBER ONE chronic disease in children, more common than asthma. A cavity is a bacterial infection in a tooth!

Dental pain affects a child’s ability to learn and thrive. Dental emergencies cost parents and kids thousands of lost school and work hours. (Emergency room visits for dental issues cost Americans over $1.5 billion dollars in 2012!)

The cost of an amalgam (metal) filling can be well over $100 dollars - depending on how much of the tooth surface is affected, it can be much more. Composite (white) fillings cost even more. If a tooth needs to be “capped” it can run into thousands of dollars! Compare that to the cost of a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss.

Dental decay is preventable! Unless there is an underlying medical condition, cavities are caused by not brushing and flossing and eating or drinking sugar too often. A well-balanced diet helps the mouth and the body to stay healthy!

Preventing childhood cavities is so important and easy to do but young children need a hand. Pediatricians and dentists recommend the first dental visit by age one and that children up until age nine should have help and supervision while brushing.

Brush Morning & Night chart - ym 2017

This information is not intended to treat or diagnose any condition. If you think you or a loved one needs medical or dental treatment, please see a doctor or dentist right away!

Sources: ADA.org, APA.org, ncohf.org

National Children's Dental Health Month - Sweat the Small Stuff

Baby Teeth Are Important

Some people think that a cavity in a baby tooth is no big deal. Why even fill it? It's just going to fall out anyway. But baby teeth don't start to fall out until a child is six or seven years old. Some baby teeth remain in the mouth until a child reaches twelve to thirteen years old. Until that time those baby teeth perform all the same functions as the adult teeth and it is important that they are healthy and strong. Furthermore the baby teeth hold the space for the adult teeth coming in. Early loss of baby teeth can result in crowded or misaligned teeth.

By the time a child is six to eight months old the very first baby teeth have begun to erupt. It is very important to care for these teeth every day by wiping or brushing them after each meal. A tiny bit of toothpaste can even be used. The recommendation is for the first dental visit at one year of age, although many people wait much longer to take their child to a dentist. Unfortunately by that time, if the teeth have not been properly cared for, decay may be present. This is especially true if the child is given a bottle with milk, formula, breast milk or juice to sleep with at night. If a bottle is given other than with meals, it should have water in it only. It is not recommended to put a child to sleep at night with a bottle.

The problem with the bacteria that cause cavities is that after the initial cavity is formed, if the teeth continued to be neglected, the cavities will continue to spread. Just like with the adult teeth, this can result in serious pain and infection.

Children need their teeth to be healthy from the start so that their bodies can grow to be healthy and strong. When the baby teeth start coming in the child is beginning to eat solid foods and learning to speak. The period of time between the emergence of the first baby tooth until all the teeth are in at 3 years of age marks a period of incredible development. Likewise, the loss of the baby teeth and emergence of the first permanent teeth mark the beginning of another period of tremendous growth of the mind and body which takes the child all the way to adolescence.

NCDHM_facebook_coverphoto

February is designated as National Children's Dental Health Month to remind everyone that the smallest things, like baby teeth, matter a great deal to life long health.

Primary Teeth Chart; MouthHealthy.org

This post is not intended to diagnose or treat any illness or condition. If you need medical or dental care please see your doctor or dentist right away! You'll be happy you did.