Cleanings

You can begin cleaning your child’s teeth very early on and teaching him or her about the importance of home hygiene as soon as possible. During the earliest years, you can gently clean your child’s gums with a wet washcloth or gauze. This will feel good to your infant, and it will help remove decay-causing bacteria.

Between the ages of 6 months and one year, you can begin using an infant toothbrush. Use a toothbrush especially designed for infants, with soft bristles. You can simply brush with water, but if you wish, you can use a very tiny amount of toothpaste. The problem with this is that babies often swallow the toothpaste, so ask us for more information during your visit.

You can brush your child’s teeth after feeding and right before bed.

Cleaning your child’s baby teeth can help protect them from decay. Baby teeth are covered with a thinner layer of enamel than that of adult teeth, which means that they’re very susceptible to cavities. Baby teeth do eventually fall out, but we believe that they should remain until they fall out naturally.

As your child grows, you can floss his or her teeth every day until around the age of 7 to 10. Then, teach your child to floss and make sure they do it correctly every day.

One of the most common and serious problems that your child’s teeth can encounter is baby bottle decay. This is caused by allowing the child to suck on a baby bottle full of sugary milk, formula, juice, or soda constantly. Don’t allow your child to take a bottle to bed with him or her, and gently clean your child’s mouth after every feeding.

Fluorosis will appear as white specks or brownish stains on adult teeth. Your child might develop fluorosis from ingesting excessive fluoride during the formative years. This can be caused by swallowing fluoridated toothpaste, drinking water that’s been fluoridated, or taking too much supplementary fluoride. Have your water supply checked for high levels of fluoride.

Both pacifier sucking and thumb sucking will have an effect on the front teeth. In reality, a pacifier can be slightly worse for the teeth because it’s pliable and tries to regain its original shape during sucking, adding a bit of extra force in comparison to thumb sucking. Pacifier sucking will distort your child’s smile, which is why we advise against a pacifier. Because it’s impossible to negotiate successfully with a child, the best way of keeping your child from sucking on the pacifier is to simply take it away and “make it disappear.”

The Sugar Habit May Be Developing Along with Your Child’s First Tooth

Would you describe yourself as having a sweet tooth? If you do, your habit may go back to before you could actually grab a soda or a piece of candy from the kitchen yourself.

According to the Academy of General Dentistry, a high consumption of sweetened drinks during infancy correlates strongly to high sugar consumption later in life. The types of foods babies are exposed to early on influences what they eat for years to come. So, if artificially sweetened fruit juice or sweetened cereal raisins are a baby’s first encounter with “real” food, then a diet of foods and drinks high in sugar may continue into adolescence and adulthood.

In other words, when infants are introduced to sugar at a young age, they’re more likely to be attracted to high-sugar snacks rather than snacks that are more balanced and nutritious.

Such exposure can also be problematic at a young age. Bottle syndrome, which is sometimes referred to as baby bottle tooth decay, describes situations where an infant’s teeth have been exposed to sugary drinks on an almost constant basis. Sugar is known, of course to cause cavities, specifically by feeding bacteria in the mouth. The by-product is acid, which destroys the protective enamel on teeth. This even happens with drinks that are “100% juice,” as they contain high levels of a natural sugar known as fructose. Young children are especially vulnerable because the layer of enamel on baby teeth this thinner and more vulnerable. Follow these tips to help your child avoid bottle syndrome:

• Limit non-water beverages to meals
• Always send your child to bed with a bottle of water instead of milk or juice
• Juice consumption should not exceed 10% of the entire diet
• Avoid flavoring your child’s pacifier with honey or something similar
• Follow up the use of any liquid medicine, which may contain sugar, by brushing your child’s teeth

Do you want your child to make healthy food choices later in life? Helping him develop those habits doesn’t start later—it starts now, with you limiting the exposure to high-sugar foods and drinks during infancy.