Milk Teeth
Almost all milk teeth are formed as soon as babies are born, even though they are hidden under the gums. These teeth typically begin erupting or are slightly visible from the gums when a baby is six months old. Of course, some babies may teethe earlier or later. It’s normal.
Generally, the first teeth to erupt in babies are the lower front teeth. Following these, two more of the lower teeth erupt along with the upper four front teeth. After that, the teeth gradually take their place in the mouth, usually at the same time on both sides of the jaws. When your baby is 36 months old, he should have 20 milk teeth in his mouth.
These milk teeth are typically spaced apart. Due to the size difference between permanent teeth and milk teeth, these gaps help keep enough space for permanent teeth. These spaces between teeth also make it easier for your child to clean their teeth.
Care of Milk Teeth
Although milk teeth will eventually fall out, they are just as important as permanent teeth.
Milk teeth:
- Helps the child to bite and chew food.
- Makes the child look more likeable.
- Helps the child speak correctly.
- They maintain the necessary space for the child’s permanent teeth.
- They guide permanent teeth into their place.
For these reasons, it is very important to take good care of your child’s milk teeth.
When your baby has four teeth lined up on the upper or lower jaw, you should brush his teeth twice a day. For this, you should choose a soft toothbrush. You can also soak the brush in warm water for a few minutes to further soften it.
You should brush your teeth using a special fluoride toothpaste for children as much as a chickpea kernel or just with water. You should not forget that your child will prefer to swallow the toothpaste instead of spitting it out. Ingestion of too much fluoride can cause cosmetic problems (fluorosis) in permanent teeth. You should wipe the toothless areas by wetting gauze or cheesecloth. You should floss once a day when your child’s teeth touch.
Since the waters in Turkey are fluoridated, there is usually no need to take fluoride in the form of tablets. However, if the water in your area is not fluoridated, you can consult your dentist or pediatrician and ensure that your child takes the required amount of fluoride. The point to be considered in this regard is the cosmetic problems that may occur in permanent teeth due to the high dose of fluoride.
After a while, your child will want to brush his teeth himself. You should allow your child to brush without forgetting that you are responsible for the cleaning of their teeth. Until the age of 6-8, coordination and dexterity will not be enough for him to brush well. However, after these ages, you should check your child’s teeth after brushing.
What is Bottle Caries?
Bottle cavities are cavities that can quickly destroy your baby’s teeth. It is possible to avoid this situation. This occurs when your baby’s teeth are in prolonged contact with sugars made up of carbohydrates. When a carbohydrate-containing liquid such as fruit juice and milk is left in the mouth, the bacteria begin to feed on sugars. Thus, the bacteria produce acid, and if they stay in the mouth for a sufficient time, they begin to form cavities on the teeth.
This situation often happens to your baby:
- Sleeping with a bottle filled with milk, juice, sweetened water, or any other beverage other than just water
- Drinks sugary liquids or milk in her bottle for relief throughout the day
- Uses a false nozzle dipped in sugar, honey or other sugary liquids
Unless breast milk is given with carbohydrates, it does not cause caries. There is a risk of caries in babies who are fed with formula as well as breast milk.
How often your baby drinks is just as important as what he drinks. The longer your child keeps a liquid other than water in his mouth, the greater the risk of cavities. Therefore, it is dangerous for your baby to sleep with a bottle or use the bottle as a false nipple during the day. Although other teeth are affected by bottle cavities, the most damaged ones are the upper front teeth. Bottle cavities can only occur if your baby has Streptococcus mutans in his mouth. While S. mutans constitutes less than 1% of oral bacteria in children with minor caries, this rate rises to 50% in children with early childhood caries.
S. mutans is common and infants are between 6-31 months of age.
Why is it passed on to the child? This period is called the “window of infection”. In order for your child to continue his life without caries, you should also pay attention to your oral and dental health.
In baby bottle caries, the upper incisors are primarily affected. Cavities usually start on the back of the teeth, which are places that are not easily seen. Then the maxillary posterior teeth and then the lower jaw posterior teeth are affected. The lower incisors are usually not affected by this, because the tongue comes over them and prevents them from being exposed to the liquid, thus preventing them from being affected by bacteria.
Untreated decayed teeth can cause pain and infection. These may require more extensive and complicated treatment. Very badly decayed teeth can be extracted to eliminate the infection, reduce the risk of infection spreading to the face, and allow permanent teeth to develop without being affected by the infection.
Any liquid containing carbohydrates can cause bottle cavities when left on the teeth for a long time. These liquids can be milk, fruit juice, distilled fruit juice, sweetened water, or any sugary beverage. Just having water in the mouth for a long time will not harm your child.
Some tips to avoid bottle bruises:
- Don’t let your baby sleep with a bottle filled with carbohydrate-containing liquid. There is no harm in sleeping with just water.
- Take your baby away from the bottle at 12-14 months of age, after consulting with your doctor.
- Don’t let your baby use a bottle filled with any liquid other than water for comfort throughout the day.
- Do not immerse your baby’s false breast in sugar or sugary liquids.
- Do not add sugar to your child’s food.
- Clean your baby’s teeth and gums after every meal with a wet cloth or toothbrush.
- You should visit your dentist as soon as possible when your baby’s first tooth erupts.
- You should teach your baby to drink from a glass from the age of one.
- You should make sure that your baby is getting enough fluoride. If the drinking water in your city does not contain fluoride, you can consult your dentist about fluoride supplements.
Permanent Teeth
When your child is 6-7 years old, milk teeth begin to fall out and permanent teeth begin to erupt in their place. This process may be a little earlier or later. This process may vary due to the hereditary characteristics of each child. The symmetry or alignment of newly erupted teeth is more important than when the teeth erupt. Often the first permanent teeth to appear in the mouth are the lower front teeth. However, in some children, first molars, also called 6-year-old teeth, may be the first permanent teeth to erupt.
By the time your child is 13 years old, most of their permanent teeth will have taken their place in the mouth. The third molars erupt between the ages of 17-21. However, in some people, third molars may not have developed at all. Often, even though these teeth are developed, they cannot erupt and remain impacted because they are not in the correct position or there is no space in the mouth.
Caring for Permanent Teeth
Your child needs your help with brushing until he or she is 6-8 years old. You should help him with this at least twice a day, in the morning and just before going to bed. You should make sure that no food residues are left on your child’s teeth (especially the molars). Because there are many recesses and protrusions on the molars where food residues can be stored.
A few tips for your child’s oral and dental health:
- You can use a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste on a toothbrush with soft nylon bristles.
- Teach your child how to spit out foams so that he does not swallow the toothpaste.
- When your child’s two teeth come out in contact, you should start using dental floss. By the age of 9, children can reach the ability to floss themselves. With the use of dental floss, we are protected from caries by reaching between the teeth where the toothbrush cannot reach.
- You can talk to your dentist or pediatrician about whether your child is getting enough fluoride.
The Connection of Your Child’s Teeth with Nutrition
When and how often your child eats is as important as what he eats for dental health. A balanced diet is important for long-term dental health (appropriately developing teeth and healthy gums).
Keeping carbohydrate foods in the mouth or on the teeth for a long time causes dental caries. Bacteria in the mouth feed on these carbohydrates and form acid. With this aist, they start the formation of caries by affecting the enamel layer of the tooth. During the period between meals, saliva helps to eliminate the effect of this acid. Frequent eating habits cause the mouth to remain acidic.
causes tooth decay.
Advice about snack and meal times:
- Give your child healthy food to snack on, such as fresh fruit, vegetables or cheese.
- Buy sugar-free or sugar-free foods.
- Serve sugary or starchy foods after meals, not as a snack.
- Despite the promise to brush your child’s teeth after eating, you should keep them away from sticky foods. Because these foods enter between the teeth and the recesses on the tooth surfaces and are difficult to remove. It may surprise you, but some of these foods are: meringue cookies, figs, croquettes, oatmeal cookies, pistachio cookies, plain cupcakes, potato chips, and crackers.
- You should suggest that she snack less. After eating frequently, the amount of acid in the mouth increases and stays that way for a long time.
- You should make sure your child brushes their teeth after snacking. If this is not possible, you should rinse your mouth several times with water.
- You should encourage your child to buy xylitol-containing or sugar-free gums.
- You should not give your child milk, juice or soda just before bedtime.
Radiography in Children
X-rays, also called radiography, are important aids in diagnosis.
X-rays to the dentist:
- How your child’s teeth are erupting
- Appearance of number, size and position of unerupted teeth
- Identification of missing or extra teeth
- Imaging of injuries to the mouth and teeth
- Determining the presence of infection in the teeth or mouth
- Preparation for brackets and other orthodontic treatments
- Determining problems that cannot be seen in visual examination
- Helps identify bone diseases.
There is no strict limit on how often your child will be x-rayed. Your child’s development and dental health and needs also change. If your child has a large number of cavities and fillings, or if the risk of dental caries is high, your dentist may request an x-ray every six months until this situation is under control. The need for X-rays also depends on the child’s brushing, flossing, and nutrition. Other children do not need frequent X-rays. However, undiagnosed problems can become worse if x-rays are not taken when necessary.
Treatment of Children’s Teeth
Fillings in Children’s Teeth
Restoring the tooth means returning the tooth to its original shape and function with a treatment option such as filling. There are several reasons for the restoration of a child’s primary or permanent teeth:
- Rotten
- Trauma – broken or cracked tooth
- Developmental defects that cause teeth to be too small or improperly shaped
- Endodontic treatment (pulpotomy or root canal treatment)
Recognizable colorations
Restoration of Primary Teeth in Children
You may think that filling the milk tooth is unnecessary because of the permanent tooth that will replace it. However, milk teeth are important not only for appearance, but also for the normal development of chewing and speech. The milk teeth also guide the permanent teeth to take their own position.
Besides, tooth decay is an infection. If your child has a rotten tooth, it means that he has an infection in his body that can affect his general health.
Milk teeth are restored with fillings or crowns according to the amount of healthy tooth structure remaining.
The fact that the milk tooth is filled does not make it difficult for the milk tooth to fall out when it is time for the permanent tooth to erupt.
Restoration of Permanent Teeth in Children
Fillings made in children are not different from those made in adults. However, the construction and fitting of the crown is quite different. Crowns in children are finished in one appointment.
Filling
Young children may have difficulty getting dental treatment. However, a dentist with experience in this age group will have a positive effect on the child.
Local anesthesia
First of all, the gingiva or the inner part of the cheek is anesthetized with a topical anesthetic agent (gel or ointment). When the area becomes numb, anesthesia is injected and the tooth and the area are numbed for a while.
Caries Removal and Filling
A rotary instrument or laser is used to remove the decayed tooth tissues and give the tooth the necessary shape for filling. When laser is used for this procedure, there is no need for local anesthesia. When the composite filling is placed, the tooth surface is roughened with acid and the filling is adhered to the tooth surface. The filling is placed on the tooth in thin layers and hardened with a special light.
is paired. The filling is then smoothed and polished.
1 Year Examination
One of the questions on the minds of new parents is when to take their child for the first time for a dental check-up.
According to the American Academy of Pedodontology, the short answer to this question should be when the baby turns one year old. The American Academy of Pedodontics recommends a 1-year-old pedodontic examination for children at risk for early childhood caries.
Cavities are not all that parents need to know about their children’s oral and dental health.
At the age of 1, parents,
- How to take care of a baby’s or toddler’s mouth
- The use of fluoride suitable for children
- Oral habits such as thumb sucking
- Ways to avoid trauma and mouth and face accidents
- Teething and developmental milestones
- They should focus on the relationship between nutrition and oral health.
After the initial examination, the dentist will recommend a ruler for follow-up examinations. In the past, dentists recommended six-month checkups. Today, dentists adjust the frequency of examinations of children according to the personal needs and risks of children. As your child grows, the dental team will share information that will help protect you from common oral problems.
Preparation for 1 Year Dental Examination
An age checkup is all you can learn about your child’s oral health and how best to meet your child’s unique needs. It is for establishing a relationship with the dentist clinic, where you can get answers to your questions and feel comfortable with confidence.
The best way to prepare for your child’s 1-year dental exam is to assess what you want to know, what you are looking for, and what you can hope for.
Be prepared to ask questions about anything that worries you.
- Friendly to children and parents
- Knowledge about oral health and development of young/young children
- Responsive/responsive to you
- Even when your child makes unnecessary fuss while their mouth is being looked at, they are understanding and sincere towards your child
- Focused on your child’s special needs
- A dentist clinic that can give advice about your child’s oral and dental care and show you how to do this care will be the best choice for your child and you.
The clinic that is right for you and your child
- Telling you how to reach the clinic in case of an accident or dental emergency
- Special recommendations for regular follow-up care
- Telling you about the progress that will follow in your child’s oral development
- It should have features that protect and improve your child’s oral health.
The dentist should be prepared to hear your child’s unnecessary fuss during the oral checkup and while demonstrating brushing. But sometimes it surprises parents that their children/babies are quiet and passive and enjoy the attention and originality that the examination requires.
If possible, come with an adult who shares responsibility for caring for your child. If you want to talk freely and freely with the dentist and focus on your child, it is best not to bring another child for the first visit.
It would be helpful to bring a favorite toy, blanket or any familiar object to the dentist clinic that will help your child feel safe and comfortable.
If your child has stains that are usually seen on babies’ teeth, the dentist can clean your child’s teeth. The dentist may apply topical/local fluoride, especially if your child is at high risk of developing cavities.
Before leaving the clinic, you should have a clear idea of your child’s development, your responsibilities and follow-ups by the dentist. You need to know what you can do with your child’s dentist to have your questions answered, to have a clear idea about your child’s chances of developing cavities and closure problems, and to ensure that your child has excellent oral health.
