Guidelines For Baby Teeth
Here’s a good article about baby teeth posted on About.com:Dental Care. First, and most importantly, they point out that baby teeth are important to keep because they hold the proper space for the permanent teeth to erupt. In addition, an abscessed baby tooth can damage the permanent tooth forming in the bone below it. So keep sugar out of your kids’ mouths between meals, especially at bedtime! Remember that milk sugar and fruit sugar can cause decay in young kids’ teeth as well as table sugar.
As for brushing with toothpaste, the most important thing is to control how much toothpaste is being put onto the brush. Kids are going to swallow some of the paste no matter what you do. The American Dental Association takes that into account when they revised their fluoride tablet recommendations for people who don’t have fluoride in their water. So put a pea-sized amount of paste on their brush and let them go to town.
We also think it’s important to get kids into the habit of flossing their teeth as young as possible. The best way to do this is to floss your own teeth at the same time everyday and let them watch. Create a family flossing time. This can also be the best way to get parents to floss regularly! It’s not so important that they do a great job of it, just yet. Get them into a good habit now, and they can work on technique when they get older.
So taking care of baby teeth is important for the normal development of the permanent teeth. And doing so is mostly a matter of developing good habits. Don’t feed the sugar bugs between meals, especially at night. And get them into good flossing and brushing habits early using a pea-sized amount of a fluoride toothpaste. Then take them to the dentist twice a year for some fun, easy visits!
Dr. Steve
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