Smile on a baby’s face can make you go all aww and we need to accept it that it is looking at the smiling baby is the best feeling in the world. It is important to maintain the cuteness and for that it is important to safeguard your baby’s smile.
For this it is very important to take care of your baby’s oral health. From the very first tooth to the fully-grown milk teeth to then forming permanent/adult teeth, parents should take care of all. Every stage requires special care and guidance and one should ensure the same at all the stages.
A few facts about your baby’s teeth are as follows:
- Milk teeth or baby teeth are first set of dentition in the growth development of humans. They develop during embryonic stage and erupts during infancy.
- If we look at the awareness towards the dental health, Indian population lacks it at Rural as well as Urban level.
- It is said by Ogden Nash “some pains are physical, some pains are mental, but the one that’s both is DENTAL.”
The guidance towards protecting your kid’s teeth and smile are very simple. But question arises when and how do we start??? To understand it better, let us begin with simple steps.
- What are milk teeth and which teeth are milk teeth?
– Milk teeth are also known by the names of Baby teeth, deciduous teeth, primary teeth, temporary teeth. At birth there are usually 20 teeth which starts erupting at the age of 6month upto 3years. During this stage regular dental visit is very important.
2. What is the purpose of milk teeth and why are they important?
-It is most obvious yet important function of milk teeth to help in biting and chewing apart from speech, appearance, development of jawbones & facial muscles and guiding permanent teeth. Premature loss due to cavities, trauma may hamper above functions. The primary teeth set a base for the permanent teeth to erupt and any damage to them causes issues with the eruption of permanent teeth thereby causing mis-alignment and other such issues.
3. When should be child’s first dental visit?
-It should be immediately after 1st tooth is seen in kid’s mouth. And thereafter every
6months. Make sure that you take your child to a kids dentist and for that you can even look for the kids dentist near me option online.
4. How to care for milk teeth for a health and cavity free smile?
- Start cleaning child’s mouth even before the first tooth erupts into oral cavity after each feed with a wet clean washcloth/gauze wrapped around your finger. You can used finger brush once tooth erupts in mouth.
- Brush gently with tooth paste(about size of grain of rice) & a brush in circular motion and make it a habit to gargle with water once the child is 2year old after every meal.
- Avoid snacking in small interval of time. In between snacking causes more damage than good. Sweets should be consumed with lunch rather than in between meals to avoid cavities.
- First sign of cavities in baby teeth are discoloration and minor pitting. Schedule a dental visit if you notice any changes. Do not neglect any sign which is unusual. Avoid long period of bottle feeding and develop a habit of drinking milk in a glass.
- Important message :
-Take good care of first set of pearly whites inorder to establish good dental habits for years to come.
-Prevention is always better than cure. Therefore, take all the necessary precautions to avoid any kind of risk whatsoever.
-Cavities are irreversible damage so be careful while allowing your kids to have sweets.
-Do not forget to visit your dentist nearby for regular checkups every 6 months for a cavity free and healthy smile.
-Inculcate healthy habits in your child such as having a balanced meal and avoid having junk food as much as you can.
-Your kids’ dental care is equally important. Never ignore even the slightest sign you come across. The small signs if overlooked can cause serious complications.
Happy and healthy child makes a happy future.
Author Bio:
Praveen Singh is a writer and blogger, and a professional interested in sharing interesting ideas with the world. His blogs give a peek into things that aim to inform, enrich and entertain the readers. He loves sharing views on anything that provides value to the readers and helps broaden their horizon. He works for Clove Dental clinic and can help you to find the best nearest dentists in your location.