Personal Dental Health >> Dental Care for Children

You have a big role to play in keeping your child's teeth healthy and clean. You can help prevent cavities. Prevention starts at home, with good eating habits and daily cleaning of the teeth.

Cleaning Teeth - Young children are not able to clean their own teeth. As a parent, you must do it for them when they are very young and do it with them, as they get older.

Nutrition for Children - We have all heard that sugar is bad for teeth. Why is this so?

Dental Development - All 20 baby (or primary) teeth come in by the time your child is two or three years old.

Early Childhood Tooth Decay - Once your child has teeth, he is susceptible to tooth decay.

Cleaning Teeth

As a parent, you must do it for them when they are very young and do it with them, as they get older. Check to make sure your child does a good job.

Start cleaning your child's mouth even before your child has teeth. It gets both you and your child into the habit of keeping the mouth clean, and it gives baby (or primary) teeth a clean place to come into. The goal is to wipe all parts of the gums and teeth.

Toothbrushes and Toothpaste

The best kind of brush is soft, with rounded bristles. It should be the right size for your child's mouth. You will need to buy a new toothbrush at least every 3 or 4 months. Make sure the toothpaste has fluoride.

As excessive swallowing of toothpaste by young children may result in dental fluorosis, children under 6 years of age should be supervised during brushing and only use a small amount.

Nutrition for Children

When your child eats or drinks sugars, the germs (bacteria) in your child's mouth mix with the sugars to make a mild acid. This acid attacks the hard outer layer of teeth (also called enamel). It can make holes (or cavities) in the teeth.

The damage that sugars do depends on how much sugar goes into the mouth and how long it stays in the mouth.

Natural sugars can have the same effect on teeth as white (or refined) sugar out of the bag! Many healthy foods contain natural sugars. Milk contains natural sugar. Water is the best drink to have between meals.

Dental Development

All twenty baby (or primary) teeth come in by the time your child is two or three years old.

If your child is getting his or her teeth and seems to be in pain, you can:

• rub the gums with a clean finger, or
• If your child is still unhappy, your dentist, pharmacist or doctor can suggest an over-the-counter medicine to ease the pain.
• Do not use the kind of painkiller that can be rubbed on your child's gums. Your child may swallow it.
• Do not ignore a fever. Getting new teeth does not make babies sick or give them a fever. If your child has a fever, check with your doctor.
  

At age six or seven, the first adult (or permanent) teeth come in. They are known as the "first molars," or the "six-year molars."

They come in at the back of the mouth, behind the last baby (or primary) teeth. They do not replace any primary teeth.

Children lose primary teeth until they are about 12 years old.

It's okay for children to wiggle their primary teeth if they are loose. When a tooth comes out at the right time, there will be very little bleeding.

Permanent teeth often look more yellow than primary teeth. This is normal. But it could also be caused by medicine your child took, by an accident that hurt a primary tooth, or by too much fluoride. Ask your dentist about this when you go for a check-up.

Cavities are the main problem children have with their teeth.

Daily brushing and flossing can stop gum disease. If your child's gums bleed, don't stop brushing. If the gums are always swollen, sore or bleeding, there may be a serious problem.