5 Ways To Keep Your Child's Teeth Healthy

If you’re a new parent, you may be wondering how you should prepare to take care of your child’s oral health. Oral health is an important puzzle piece to your child’s overall health and it starts before your child has any teeth. 

To prevent tooth decay, gum disease, orthodontic problems, and pacifier teeth, it’s crucial to learn about your child’s dental needs. You should know when to expect their teeth to erupt, when it is time for their first dental visit, how to keep their teeth and gums clean, and when to wean them off of certain behaviors. 

In this blog from Sprouting Smiles Pediatric Dentistry, we’re giving you a guide on how to care for your child’s teeth and gums so they can grow strong and healthy.

1. Know When to Take Your Child for Their First Dental Visit

The ADA recommends that you take your child to their first dental visit when one of two things happens - your child receives their first tooth or they turn one year old. It’s important not to put this dental visit off. Making dental visits and oral health care a part of your child’s life very early on will stress the importance of oral hygiene and get your child comfortable with seeing their pediatric dentist in San Diego. 

At this appointment, the dentist may clean your child’s mouth, perform an oral exam, check for abnormalities, and give you information on how to care for their teeth and gums as well as what to expect when they are teething.

2. Teach Them How to Clean Their Teeth & Gums

Just because your child doesn’t have teeth yet doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be cleaning their mouth. Before your child’s first tooth erupts, take a damp cloth and use it to wipe their gums to remove bacteria. 

When your child’s first tooth comes in, use a soft-bristle toothbrush made specifically for infants to gently brush the tooth. Use a rice-sized amount of child-friendly fluoride toothpaste until they turn 3. 

Once your child has gotten a little older (around 3 years old) demonstrate to them how to properly brush and floss. Show them how to brush at a 45-degree angle and how to reach the back teeth. You will need to help them brush their teeth until they have developed the dexterity to do so on their own and until they learn not to swallow the toothpaste. 

From ages 3-6, a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste can be used. By the age of 6, your child should be able to brush their teeth on their own, but you should monitor them to ensure they are doing it properly and for at least 2 minutes.

3. Wean Your Child Off of Pacifiers, Thumb Sucking, & Baby Bottles Early

Did you know that prolonged use of pacifiers, thumb sucking, and baby bottles can cause long-term oral health problems like pacifier teeth or baby bottle tooth decay? While sucking on a thumb, bottle, or pacifier is a completely natural method of self-soothing, the behavior mustn’t continue for too long. 

The best time to wean your child off of these behaviors is by around age 2. If your child continues to suck their thumb or a pacifier until the permanent teeth are coming in, they could have long-term problems with their jaw and teeth alignment and the roof of their mouth. 

Baby bottles should not be used past one year old. Never use your saliva to clean a pacifier or a baby bottle as this introduces bacteria into your child’s mouth that can cause cavities. You should also refrain from giving them a bottle at night and it should only be filled with milk or water.

4. Feed Them a Healthy Diet to Reduce Cavity Risk

Cavities form when bacteria in the mouth feed off of left behind sugars and transform them into acids that attack the tooth enamel, eventually leading to holes or cavities in the teeth. To reduce your child’s risk of cavities, limit their consumption of sugar and carbohydrates. 

Acidic foods and drinks like citrus fruit and juices should also be limited. Make sure your child drinks plenty of water to stay hydrated. Saliva helps wash away excess bacteria and food particles from the mouth. 

However, if your child frequently snacks throughout the day, their mouth will not have enough time to generate the saliva to wash away food particles and this can lead to plaque buildup.

5. Early Detection & Prevention

Your child should visit the dentist every 6 months for a dental cleaning and checkup. These are incredibly important to detect early warning signs of tooth decay, gum disease, oral cancer, and orthodontic problems before it’s too late. 

When serious conditions like gum disease and oral cancer are caught early enough, they are reversible. Dental cleanings remove plaque and tartar buildup to reduce your child’s likelihood of developing cavities and gum disease. 

Dentistry For Kids in Sabre Springs

We apply fluoride varnish for extra cavity protection and recommend that your child receive dental sealants on their first and second permanent molars to prevent cavities in these teeth that have many pits and grooves. To schedule your child’s next dental appointment with Dr. Wendy Yang, contact us at Sprouting Smiles Pediatric Dentistry today.