When to begin taking your child to a Mission Viejo family dentist

Thank you for visiting the website of Basti Dental Care. Our team provides unsurpassed dentistry for patients of all ages. We especially love looking after the littlest ones.

When new parents are looking for a family dentist in the Mission Viejo area, they often give us a call asking, “When should I start bringing my baby to the dentist?”

We recommend introducing your little one to oral hygiene before the first tooth emerges. Even though you can't see teeth, they are there. Baby's teeth begin forming in the second trimester of pregnancy. Therefore, at birth, some of the 20 primary teeth are already fully developed in the jaw.

Start with a clean washcloth, moistened with warm water. Gently rub it over her gums after feeding to remove potentially harmful bacteria. This helps him or her get used to the routine and the feel of a clean mouth.

Call us to schedule her initial dental appointment when the first tooth breaks through the gum, or by the first Birthday (whichever happens earliest). We make sure that the visit is a pleasant and upbeat prologue to a lifetime of care.

We talk with you about using a soft toothbrush designed just for infants and about when you can start using a tiny smear of toothpaste to start a good habit of daily brushing. Don't worry – we show you how to do it. We also explain the importance of avoiding “bottle decay,” by not putting baby to sleep with a bottle. Sugars from milk, formula, or juice eat away at tooth enamel. Those cavities in baby teeth spoil the look of the first smile and can affect the health of permanent teeth.

We show you a few tricks that make it fun to teach your child to brush on his or her own. By about age two, most kids understand the concept of spitting. They are ready to try brushing with a pea-sized dab of paste.

This gentle, early dental care creates a strong foundation for your little one's lifetime of oral health. We develop good rapport so that as he or she gets older we can begin dialogue about the importance of oral hygiene for appearance, social acceptance, and wellness. Sometimes a teenager is more comfortable talking to a trusted family dentist about peer pressure toward unhealthy habits (like smoking) than discussing it with a parent.

Therefore, when parents ask us “When should I start bringing my baby to the dentist?” we answer with, “Let's talk about keeping that smile healthy for life.” We are Basti Dental Care, and we want to be your family dentist in Mission Viejo.