Understanding Root Canal Procedures

Taking Care Of Your Baby's Teeth

15 June 2015

Diane Mason

If you have a baby, you may have wondered what the proper process is in taking care of their teeth. Since baby teeth are going to fall out anyway, why is it important to take care of them? There are a few different reasons why starting a good oral hygiene regimen is necessary when your child is very little. Here are some of the reasons why baby teeth are important and a summary of the right way to care for them.

Biting And Speech

Like adult teeth, the baby teeth will be used for biting into food. When your baby first starts learning how to eat solids, the teeth will help them mash the food into smaller pieces so it will be easily swallowed. Your baby will instinctively learn this when being offered foods that are in chunked form. 

The baby teeth will also help in your child's speech development. When they start learning sounds that they wish to copy, they will either push their tongue up against their teeth or the roof of the mouth or form their lips around the teeth while making sound. The teeth will help to control the air flow, assisting in making specific sounds as your baby learns to talk.

Holding Space

Baby teeth are placeholders for adult teeth. Your baby is born with both sets of teeth already in place way down deep inside the gums. When a baby tooth is getting ready to fall out, the root will dissolve and the tooth will loosen from its placeholder. When it falls out, the adult teeth below it will begin to emerge.

If a baby loses a baby tooth prematurely, the teeth on either side of the missing tooth may start to drift into the empty space. Because of this, a dentist will insert a placeholder into a baby's mouth if the tooth is knocked out or removed due to disease. This space maintainer is a metal piece that is placed on the existing teeth using cement. It will hold the spot for the permanent tooth to ensure that it has room to grow in straight. 

Caring For Baby Teeth

When your baby is not yet old enough to know how to care for their own teeth, you will need to do the cleaning for them. Before your baby gets their baby teeth, rub down their gums with a clean washcloth twice a day to help remove any bacteria from the mouth. When the first teeth begin to erupt, you can graduate to using a toothbrush with a soft, small head full of bristles. 

Use toothpaste in the amount of a size of a grain of rice on the toothbrush and brush both the fronts and backs of your baby's teeth. Baby toothpaste is safe for your baby to swallow. As they get older, they will move up to children's toothpaste with fluoride and they will learn how to spit it out after brushing.

Only use formula, breast milk, or water inside your baby's bottle. Juices can cause sugar to adhere to the teeth, leading to bacteria growth. This can in turn cause tooth decay. When your baby takes a nap, only put water in their bottle for them to fall asleep with. Milk and formula can also cause a bacteria build-up if it stays on the teeth for an extended time. Make an appointment for your baby to see a dentist around a year of age to ensure their teeth are growing in properly and that there are no problems with cavities or tooth decay. For more information, contact a professional like Quality Dental Care.

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