Give Your Child a Good Start: Oral Health that will Last a Lifetime
Having a healthy smile throughout life is important. That’s why we start teaching great hygiene and dental practices at a young age. The best chances for a healthy smile start with the very first teeth that come in, the primary teeth, or as they have come to be known, the baby teeth. Learn more about how to properly care for baby teeth.
Baby Teeth Care
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Chewing on well-formed teeth helps jawbones to grow properly. If some of a child’s teeth are missing, the jaws can grow off balance, causing problems down the road.
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A prematurely lost baby tooth will allow neighboring teeth to drift, blocking space of the developing adult tooth, leading to crooked teeth.
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If teeth are lost too early, improperly chewed food will upset digestion. The same happens with decayed or abscessed teeth as the pain inhibits proper chewing. Infected baby teeth or roots left untreated may spread bacteria into the bloodstream. They must be removed right away by us and replaced by a space-maintainer so the adult teeth have room to grow properly.
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Normal speech depends upon properly placed teeth. Early loss of baby teeth often leads to unwanted speech habits which persist into adulthood.
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Your child’s dental care starts right after birth with proper feeding and cleaning of the mouth. If you bottle feed, do not add decay-causing sugar or syrup. No juice please!
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Thumbsucking can lead to dental problems, so try to replace thumbs with soothers. Use soft rubber teething rings, not biscuits.
We will be happy to help if you have any questions about proper care for baby teeth, just give us a call.