By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert
Avoiding Tooth Decay
Did you know that tooth decay is the single most common chronic childhood disease? In fact, dental issues result in the loss of 51 million school hours every year. Horrible, right?
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is a very important reminder of how to take care of your baby’s teeth. Not only do those first teeth help your child to chew and talk, they are placeholders for permanent ones. If baby teeth are ignored, they can be lost to tooth decay. This can seriously affect the spacing of permanent teeth.
You already know about taking care of your infant’s gums and about brushing your baby’s first teeth, but there are other healthy habits that can help to prevent childhood tooth decay:
- Don’t ever put your baby to bed with a bottle of milk, formula, juice, or anything “sweetened.” These liquids feed bacteria in the mouth and can cause “baby bottle tooth decay.”
- Only fill your baby’s bottle with formula, breast milk, or water.
- Begin to wean your baby from the bottle as he or she begins to eat more solid food and can drink from a cup. Your baby should be finished with a bottle by age one.
- Follow meals with a drink of water to wash off the teeth.
- If your tap water isn’t fluoridated city water, ask your pediatrician about testing your well water for fluoride. It might be appropriate for your child to have fluoride supplements depending on the levels.
- Regularly check your child’s teeth for white, black, or brown spots.
And, of course, there’s sugar. Children who eat sweets every day have nearly twice as much decay as those who eat sugar less often. Check sugar levels in baby foods and dilute juice with water. Also, provide naturally grown food as much as possible. You’d be surprised how much sugar is found in processed and boxed food items.
Healthy habits, along with a trip to Eggert Family Dentistry, will prevent cavities. Bring your baby to see us by the age of one. It is always best for us to develop a relationship BEFORE there is a problem!