Your teeth matter, and they matter from early on in life. As all pediatric dentists will tell you, the dental care that you provide your child or children can have a lasting impact on their overall oral health. While some people might think that dental healthy early on does not matter thanks to the fact that all baby teeth will eventually fall out, this is actually far from the case. As a matter of fact, baby teeth serve as placeholders for the adult teeth that typically begin to come in at around six years of age, if not a little before or a little bit after. But if the baby teeth are not well cared for and become significantly damaged, it is all too likely that the adult teeth will suffer the consequences later on down the road.
Fortunately, the care and keeping of your child’s baby teeth can prevent many of these issues from ever coming into play. For one thing, brushing teeth needs to be encouraged – and should be done up to twice a day. Ideally, you will start brushing your child’s teeth as soon as they first erupt, though all you will need to do at this point in time is wipe them down with a wash cloth. Once they get older, you can begin to introduce a toothbrush and toothpaste that is safe to swallow, but ideally you will be helping your child to brush their teeth well into childhood, if only to make sure that the job is well done.
In addition to this, taking them in for regular dental visits with a pediatric dentist is also a must, and is ideally something that will be started before they reach their first birthday – and before their second birthday, at the very least. For a great many people, this will mean having to find a new dentist to attend but fortunately this likely won’t be an issue, as there are a good deal of kids dentists around, so they are easy to find in most communities. And dentists are highly trustworthy as well, so much so that they are ranked as one of the most trustworthy professionals out there, falling within the top ten.
A licensed dentist will inspect and clean your child’s teeth, but can also help to spot other issues as well. Such dentists can provide preventative care as well, such as in the form of fluoride treatments. Fluoride treatments are very safe and for this reason are highly recommended by dental professionals all throughout the country. Fluoride treatments can help to strengthen new adult teeth, helping to prevent these teeth from ever falling victim to tooth decay. Tooth decay is, after all, far too common indeed. As a matter of fact, it’s up to 20 times more common than even diabetes, which is, in and of itself, quite prevalent in our world indeed. In addition to this, it is also up to five times more prevalent than even childhood asthma, another common ailment among many children, and one that can impact their lives greatly (as tooth decay can also do).
Preventing issues with tooth decay through fluoride treatments and other aspects of proper dental care will do even more. Not only will it preserve the quality of any child’s new permanent teeth, but it will help to keep them pain free. After all, fluoride treatments can be essential for preventing cavities, which can lead to pain. And when cavities are not treated promptly and effectively (as is all too often the case), this pain will only continue to grow and grow. Unfortunately, this can have serious consequences, such as missed days of school for many kids. As a matter of fact, kids who have gone without proper dental care are actually up to three times as likely to miss out on school.
At the end of the day, dental health matters quite a lot. Everything from teeth brushing habits to fluoride treatments can make a difference, and are therefore important things to be pursued indeed. Even something like fluoride treatments has been found to have a lasting impact on overall dental health. At the end of the day, prioritizing your dental health will pay off.
