Dental Health for Kids - What You Should Know

Parents must pay as much attention to oral hygiene as they do to other aspects of their children's health. The goal is to ensure your baby is healthy overall, and that includes oral cleanliness, AmoreDental.com.au says. For you to be able to accomplish that, you must first know about teething.

Each child has a different period for the debut appearance of teeth. But usually, the first teeth forms between 6 and 10 months after birth. While in other children, teeth may become visible as early as three months, for some kids, they don’t arrive until around 12 months.

Even though the mid-bottom teeth often arrive first, there is no particular order of arrival for a child's dentition. In most cases, the complete set of baby teeth (twenty) will appear at the age of three years. As for adults, the thirty-two teeth will replace the baby teeth sometime within 6- and 20-years old.

Why dental care is essential for kids

Now, that you know when to start brushing your child's teeth, you can do the needful. In case you need convincing, here are some facts about a significant tooth problem to change your mind:

The rampant tooth problem is CAVITIES, which is also called tooth decay or caries. In the US, cavities are regarded as one of the most persistent children diseases. If you leave these holes in the teeth unattended, it can result in infections and pain that may affect speaking, eating, learning, and playing.

• 1 of 7 (13%) adolescents aged 12 to 19 years have a minimum of one unhealed decayed tooth.
• Approximately 1 of 5 (20%) children within the age range of 5 to 11 years have at least one untreated decayed tooth.
• Underprivileged kids aged 5 to 19 years have a higher percentage (25%) of having cavities, compared to more well-to-do children (11%).

Oral hygiene

To care for your child's teeth and gums correctly, you must brush and rinse daily. Furthermore, you must schedule a routine dental inspection at the dentist. Fundamental treatments like extractions, installation of braces, fluoride treatment, fillings, and various other orthodontics must be carried out as and when due. There are different stages for caring for children's teeth. It starts from when they are infants until they are toddlers and then teenagers. Read further to learn the proper teeth care for each stage.

When to debut your baby at the dentist

At the age of 1 to 2 years, you must take your child for his/her first visit to the dentist. Why? It's around that time that the first tooth and primary teeth appear. It is advisable to run a "trial" visit to prep your baby for the inevitable oral exam. That way, your child can become familiar with the smells, sights, feel, and sound of the clinic. It will ultimately reduce the fuss during the actual inspection.

Also, before the visit, you must have been wiping your infant's teeth on a regular basis. Doing this will make them comfortable during the exam. Continue to read to learn how to care for your infant's teeth.

Oral hygiene for infants/toddlers

Although newborns do not have teeth, cleaning their mouth and gums is crucial. Do the following:

• Use a damp washcloth to swab your baby's gums after every meal.
• Don't let your newborn go to bed after a bottle of juice or milk. The excellent bedtime snack should be only water.
• Immediately, your infant's first tooth appears, replace the washcloth with a soft toothbrush
• Enquire from a professional dentist if your infant might require oral fluoride. If yes, at 18-months old, you can begin using a teensy low-fluoride toothpaste on your child’s toothbrush.

Oral hygiene in children

The process is different now that the child has teeth. You can, however, still achieve oral cleansing by:

• Ensuring that you brush your child's gums and teeth a minimum of two times per day (especially before sleeping at night).
• Show your children how to brush on their own, so they can learn the habit of brushing. Until they do, you should continue to clean for them.
• Have a routine oral checkup scheduled for your child at the dentist's every six months. Divulge information such as if your child breathes via the mouth or thumb sucks.
• Instruct your child always to play safe and the actions to take if he/she loses a tooth. Reacting quickly mostly saves the tooth.
• Immediately your child's teeth show, ensure they floss the teeth every evening before sleeping.
• To fight against resilient teeth problems, we recommend orthodontic treatment.

The results of neglected teeth

Neglecting your child's dental care has its repercussions and can be excruciating for little boys or girls. Although it is avoidable, diseased, wounded, or improperly formed teeth and sore gums can cause:

• Low self-esteem
• Painful and harmful infections
• Issues with the jaw bone and facial formation
• Bad bite
• Malnutrition
• Difficulty with speech development

In conclusion

Note that if you take your children for all-round routine medical checkups without examining their oral health status, then your task is incomplete. As the saying goes, "whatever is worth doing is worth doing well." Therefore, take proper care of your kids' teeth!