Early Dental Care

Next month (February) is National Dental Month - if you're in the USA. I thought I'd get a jump on it and address dental health concerns for children. It's also National Healthy Heart Month so I can save that one for next time.

Beginning at birth we must start our children on a positive road to good dental health. Dental health is important in both the physical growth of children - poor dental health may lead to poor nutrition due to pain and the intellectual and social growth of children in that teeth are very important to proper speech. Teeth are also a prime source of how we feel about ourselves. Children and adults with teeth that look unsightly feel badly about themselves and are very sub-conscious about how they appear to others.

Babies should have their gums cleaned when teeth have not yet erupted. After teeth erupt parents can use a soft brush (NO toothpaste!) to clean the infants teeth. Toothpaste should not be used until children are to the age that they can understand that they need to spit it out. This should be around 2 or 3 years of age. Even at this point parents WATCH your children. Particularly if you are using fluoridated toothpaste - which unless you hunt down non-fluoridated - you are probably using. According to one source, Orajel makes a non-fluoridated toothpaste and this is recommended for little ones. Once children are using toothpaste make sure that you read the label. Not too many people realize that there is a warning on toothpaste to only administer a pea-size amount to the toothbrush - not that lovely big "swirly" thing we see in advertisements. A pea-size amount is about the size of (or even smaller) your pinkie nail. Children love to eat toothpaste and this is considered to be the number one cause of Dental Fluorosis.

Children as young as 2 should be having their teeth flossed. Yes parent, this means you do the flossing. I do not remember being told how important flossing was until I was in college. I wished I had known it when I was younger, maybe I could have saved myself some troubles.

Children should see a dentist around age three and should be taught to brush 2-3 times per day. It is also necessary to provide healthy foods for children to eat. These foods provide the nutrients for strong teeth and will not promote tooth decay the way "junk" foods do.

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