The vast majority of people overlook the important of taking appropriate care of baby teeth. They assume that since the teeth will fall out eventually, there isn’t much point in putting effort into keeping them healthy. This is not true. It is incredibly important to take the extra steps to care for baby teeth in order to prevent significant issues and provide the best possible foundation for the adult teeth. Here are a few things to keep in mind to help you understand the importance of caring for baby teeth.
Allow for Chewing
The teeth help to ensure that effective chewing is possible. When there are problems with the teeth, they can make it difficult for a child to chew their food effectively. Due to this, they may avoid eating certain foods. Problems with baby teeth can lead to malnutrition and an array of other issues. When you care for baby teeth properly, you can minimize these issues and ensure that your child is able to chew effectively.
Improve Self-Esteem
The smile has a huge impact on the appearance of any person, which is why issues with the teeth are a leading cause of self-esteem problems. This same concept applies to children that still have their baby teeth. When a problem arises with their baby teeth, they are less likely to feel comfortable or confident with smiling. This can cause them to have low self-esteem. Caring for their baby teeth can help to ensure that the smile maintains a far better appearance and that they will feel better about smiling frequently.
Development of Speech Patterns
The teeth and tongue are leading components in how sounds and speech are developed. When there is an issue with the teeth, it can lead to additional problems concerning speech patterns. After speech problems have developed and become habitual, they can be incredibly difficult to resolve. Preventing oral health problems can go a long way toward preventing issues from arising with their speech. This can also ensure that the child is easier to understand, which can prevent a great deal of frustration and miscommunication.
How to Care for Baby Teeth
Though it is vital to understand how important it is to care for baby teeth, it is still important to know how to care for baby teeth. This will help you to ensure that your children are able to adequately and effectively care for the health of their teeth. Your children need to brush their teeth twice a day for a minimum of two minutes each time. They also need to be flossing their teeth on a regular basis. Ensure that you take your child to the dentist every 6 months. This will enable their dentist to find potential issues and problems in the early stages, when they are generally easier to resolve.
Ensure that they use a good kind of toothpaste, preferably one that contains fluoride to help strengthen their teeth. Familiarizing yourself with the most common oral hygiene mistakes will similarly help to improve the health of their teeth. Consult with our expert team for more tips regarding how to keep your child’s teeth in the best possible condition.
Prevent Infections
Infections are a serious consequence that come with many oral health problems. When there is a problem with the oral health, it is highly likely that there is a significant amount of bacteria in the area. This can lead to infections occurring. Once an infection has set in, it can spread to other areas of the mouth and body. If the infection spreads to the jawbone, it can actually cause damage to the adult teeth under the surface of the gums. When you prevent infections from occurring in the first place, you can minimize the likelihood of these substantial problems and protect the health of the teeth.
Prepare Mouth for Adult Teeth
Before the adult teeth are ready to appear, the baby teeth serve to hold their place. When an issue occurs with the baby teeth, they will be less effective at doing so. Say that your child loses a tooth prematurely due to tooth decay. The adult tooth won’t be ready to grow into place yet, so there will be a gap for an extended period of time. This often results in the other teeth in the mouth shifting in order to fill in that gap. This misalignment will then extend into adult teeth, which can cause many more problems with the smile.
Develop Good Habits
Good habits are easier to form in the first place than to change bad habits after they have set in. When you implement the appropriate habits early on, these habits will continue on to the adult set of teeth. This can help to keep their teeth healthy for years to come. However, the alternative is also true. When you don’t emphasize the need to care for baby teeth, the child will likely take less than great care of their adult teeth.
Prevent Pain
The last thing you want is for your child to be in a tremendous amount of pain. It is important to keep in mind that oral health issues often result in an extreme amount of pain. When you take care of baby teeth, you protect your child from experiencing this pain. Taking effective care of the teeth will help to prevent substantial issues from arising, which will ultimately help to prevent your child from experiencing high levels of pain.
At Mountain View Pediatric Dentistry, we are passionate about providing the services that your child needs to maintain superior oral health. By ensuring that you understand the importance of caring for baby teeth, you will be able to improve the overall health of your child’s teeth. This can help to prevent significant issues over time and provide the best start for the adult teeth of your children. To learn more about the services that we offer, as well as the best methods for protecting the health of your child’s teeth, contact our experienced team at Mountain View Pediatric Dentistry today!