Children Tooth Decay - Tooth Decay In Children

Teaching sound oral hygiene at a young age will ensure good habits for a lifetime of healthy teeth. Also, if your child goes to sleep with a bottle in his mouth, it really should not contact anything except water or unsweetened milk.

The sugars in fruit juice or other cold drinks will, most certainly, rot his teeth. Going to bed with a bottle is one of the biggest causes of tooth decay in babies and very young children, so if you can, avoid giving a bottle at bedtime altogether.

As your child gets older and becomes more interested in doing things for himself, let him brush his own teeth, but ensure you do a quick re-brush when he has finished, as he will probably just chew on the toothbrush and jiggle it aimlessly around his mouth.

Realistically, you need to supervise his tooth brushing routine until he is around seven years old to ensure he does a good job.

The primary or milk teeth are more important than most people imagine, because they keep space in the mouth for the adult teeth that are to follow. This is particularly important when the adult molars erupt.

The primary molars are wider than the adult premolars. So, if the primary molars are not there, the back teeth will tend to move forward into the gap.

Then, when the adult premolars need to come out, there will be no space for them to erupt into.

In addition, children with a so called perfect smile, where there are no gaps between the teeth, will probably battle a little when their adult teeth erupt, because there won’t be adequate space for them.

Also, parents should not be concerned if their children’s primary teeth are a little skew, as this is not an indication that their adult teeth will be crooked.