Good dental health is established early in life. Oral care should begin soon after the babies’ birth. Gums should be cleaned after each feeding. You can begin brushing your child’s teeth as soon as they appear, using a super soft toothbrush.
Ideally, your child’s first dental visit should be by the first birthday. Your dentist will check for decay and other problems, teach you how to clean your child’s teeth and identify your child’s fluoride needs. By starting dental visits early, you will help your child build a lifetime of good dental habits.
Can babies get dental cavities? What treatment options are available?
Yes, even though they will eventually fall out, milk teeth can get dental cavitities and need to be treated. As soon as teeth appear in the mouth, decay can occur.This if untreated can cause serious infection which may effect the future erupting permanent teeth. One serious form of decay among children is Baby Bottle tooth decay. Babies shouldn’t fall asleep with bottles in their mouth – the sugar in juices or milk formulas can cause tooth decay, leading to dental cavities, dental discomfort, and even tooth loss. Plain water is usually best.
How can the dentist protect your child’s teeth?
As a child’s permanent teeth erupt, the dentist can prevent dental cavities from forming with the help of sealants and fluoride treatment. Sealants are a safe, painless and low-cost way to help protect your child’s teeth from oral decay. The sealent is bonded to the chewing surfaces of the molars and premolars, and thus prevents these teeth from decay. Fluoride application is a single sitting procedure done once every six months to make the tooth structure stronger and prevents dental cavities.
What are space maintainers?
A milk tooth usually stays in until a permanent tooth underneath pushes it out and takes its place. Unfortunately, some children loose a milk tooth too soon. If this happens, the teeth beside it may move into the empty space resulting in lack of space for the permanent teeth, leading to dental crowding. This can be prevented by the use of Dental Space Maintainers. It is more affordable-and easier on your child -to keep teeth in normal positions with a dental space maintainer than to move them back in place with orthodontic treatment.
What options are available for treating severely decayed Deciduous(Milk) teeth ?
Like Root canals is a procedure for saving an infected tooth after cleaning of the canals and filling with biocompatible materials in Adults. Pulpotomy or pulpectomy is a procedure done to save the deciduous tooth.It can be done in a single sitting depending on the severity of the infection or multiple sittings and may require a crown either stainless steel or a tooth coloured filling to protect the treated tooth.