Paediatric Dentistry
A Quick Guide to Taking Care of Your Child’s Teeth. It is important that baby (milk) teeth are looked after. They are not disposable, as some might think. Baby teeth are necessary for appearance, eating and smiling, are an important component in developing speech and are also very important to ensure the correction positioning of the adult teeth.
Recent studies of the dental health of Australian children’s teeth seems to indicate that there has been an increase in decay rates, knows as Early Childhood Caries, and caries in children is the second most common reason for hospitalization. This is even more so in Queensland where the water supplies have not had fluoride supplements.
Hopefully decay rates in Queensland children will decrease and match the lower rates of decay found in the other Australian states with the Bligh governments announcement that fluoride will now be added to our drinking water supplies. Prevention of early childhood caries is easily achieved.
Knowing how caries (tooth decay) occurs will help you understand how to prevent decay in your child’s teeth. Bacteria in our mouth are responsible for caries. Up to 300 species of bacteria and other micro-organisms can inhabit our mouth. When the sugars and starches in food stay stuck to our teeth and the bacteria feed on them, forming plaque, the acids produced by the bacteria eat holes in the tooth leading to caries.
The risks that lead to early childhood caries include the following:- A high sugar diet; - Continually snacking (grazing); - sleeping with milk, juice, soft drink or cordial in a bottle;- Pacifiers coated with a sugary substance, e.g. honey; - No regular brushing of teeth.The accumulation of sugar and starch which occurs under the above situations allows the bacteria to increase in number which then increases the amount of acids that eventually lead to caries.
To prevent the risk of early childhood caries requires addressing all of the above situations. Ensure your child has a wide variety of nutritious foods high in calcium (milk, cheese) and low in acids and sugars (fruit, wholegrain cereals, lean meats and dairy products. Limit your child’s eating to selected times, and reduce the number of snacks. Give your baby or toddler a feed before going to bed, clean their teeth and offer a plain bottle of water. Do not coat pacifiers with honey or any other sweetener.
It is also important not to clean a pacifier by placing it in your mouth and then giving it to your baby. Your mouth contains bacteria that cause decay and you will infect your baby with caries causing bacteria. Brushing the baby teeth morning and night until the age of eight years needs to be done by an adult.
Children do not have the manual skills to brush effectively until this age. Think about their ability to write. From 10 years on children should be able to brush their teeth effectively without any adult supervision. Brush with water in children up to the age of 18 months using a brush with a small head and soft rounded bristles. From 18 months use low-fluoride containing toothpaste that has been formulated for children. Use only a smear and ensure the child spits out the toothpaste after you have brushed their teeth.
The teeth should be brushed for approximately two minutes in a systematic manner to ensure that every tooth surface is cleaned. It is important to encourage your child to let you brush their teeth and also to lead by example as this is a very important way to encourage your child to continue with a lifelong of good oral hygiene and an absence of tooth decay.
Flossing can commence when your child is between two and three years old. Initially this might be once or twice a week, eventually leading up to once a day. It is important not to plunge the floss between the teeth as this will damage the gums and cause bleeding. From one year of age it is strongly advised that your child sees a dentist
for regular visits.
Let one of the friendly Dentists in the Oral Experts Group help in ensuring that your child does not suffer from the easily preventable disease of tooth caries.
This information was compiled from information supplied by the Australian Dental Association. Further information can be obtained from their website, http://www.ada.org.au/, or by asking one of the Dentists in the Oral Experts Group.
