Parents or guardians should start dental hygiene and care for their infants as early as possible. You should not wait until the child gets their teeth to give them oral care. Below are critical reasons for such early dental care.
To Identify Congenital Dental Problems
Some babies have congenital problems, such as anodontia or hypodontia, where teeth don't form or only partially form. You might not notice such problems if you are not a dental professional. The earlier you treat the problems, the more effective the treatment will be. Early dental care allows the dentist to diagnose such problems so that they can treat them early enough.
To Identify Emerging Problems
Oral problems do not always wait until all teeth erupt or until permanent teeth erupt. Even your baby's first teeth are susceptible to dental decay. In addition, oral habits such as tongue thrusting, lip sucking, and thumb sucking increase the risk of dental problems, such as malocclusion. Early dental care allows the dentist to detect such issues and intervene with preventive measures.
To Learn Pediatric Dental Care
Not everyone understands how to take care of their baby's teeth or maintain good oral care in children. For example, some people don't know they should clean their baby's mouth, especially after feeding.
Early oral care encourages good oral health and allows healthy and normal teeth eruption. You will learn to care for your baby's oral health when you take the child for dental checkups.
To Protect Emerging Teeth
Natural teeth are the best version of teeth, so you should do everything possible to protect them. Even the baby teeth, which the child will lose after some time, are important. For example, the baby's teeth keep the baby's jaws in place for proper eruption and alignment of the permanent teeth. Early dental care helps protect the baby's teeth.
To Familiarize the Child with Dental Care
Lastly, you should start pediatric dental care early to get the child used to dental care, dental visits, and dentists. Many people find dental consultations scary, even if the consultations are not painful. Your child should get used to their dentist early enough to comfortably sit through dental visits when needed, for example, during crucial treatments.
Hopefully, your child will grow with perfect teeth and oral health. Remember to wipe the baby's mouth after feeding, avoid leaving them with feeding bottles for long periods, and help them brush after their teeth erupt. Your pediatric dentist will give you further information on how to care for your baby's oral health.
For more information, contact a pediatric dentist near you.
Share6 February 2023
When the bottled water craze began, I jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else who was drinking water from bottles instead of from the tap. I wasn't sure why bottled water was healthier, but I liked the taste. When I went for my next dental check-up, I had my first cavity in a while, so I had it filled and didn't think much of it. Well, I had two more during my next check-up after that, and I began trying to think of why my teeth were suddenly going bad. The only change in my habits was the switch to bottled water, so I made the switch back to tap water and my teeth began to improve. I created this blog to encourage others who have begun getting cavities suddenly to look into their changes in habits. They may find they made a change similar to mine.