Who doesn’t want their child to grow up enjoying a healthy and attractive smile? The good news is that we can help you, as great pediatric dental care is essential for healthy teeth. One question we are frequently asked is when should my child first see a dentist and the answer is by their first birthday. This is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry who take the view that children who are at risk of tooth decay should visit a pediatric dentist by age 1 (Learn more: Frequently Asked Questions | FAQ | The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry).
Disturbing Statistics of Early Childhood Tooth Decay
The idea of a young child visiting a dentist at such an early age is quite surprising for many parents, but unfortunately tooth decay in preschool children is increasing and more than a quarter of children in this country have at least one cavity by age 4. Shockingly, many will have cavities as soon as age 2. In order to find out if your child is at increased risk of early childhood tooth decay, you will need to bring them to see a good pediatric dentist.
Getting a Risk Assessment for Dental Diseases
When you bring your child to see our pediatric dentists such as Dr. Elyse Kerschner for the very first time, one of the things we will do is assess their risk of developing tooth decay. By doing this, we can decide how best to reduce this risk by using various preventative treatments, and it also allows us to decide how often they should be seeing a pediatric dentist. If they have a very low risk, we will not need to see them so frequently and we will also need to take dental x-rays less often.
We Teach You How to Care for Your Child’s Teeth
As well as providing a personalized risk assessment for your child, we can also help you learn how to care for their teeth and gums at home. Great dental education is an essential part of our dental office and we can teach you how to clean their teeth more easily and when to begin flossing, as well as lots of techniques to make this easier. We can also talk to you about oral habits such as finger and thumb sucking and tongue thrusting. Another thing we will want to discuss is the correct use of fluoride as while it is important to ensure your little one gets enough fluoride, it is equally vital to make sure they don’t receive too much. You are probably interested in knowing how your child’s teeth will develop, and we can talk to you about teething and which teeth will be coming through next and roughly when to expect them.
We Recommend a Tooth-Friendly Diet for Your Kid
There is a strong link between diet and oral health and we can discuss ways to reduce the risk of their diet causing cavities and which snacks and foods are best avoided or should be enjoyed as an occasional treat. Unfortunately many foods that are marketed as being healthy may be bad for teeth and these include cereal bars, fruit leather and dried fruits and fruit juice.
Above all, at Envy Smile Dental Spa we will help you with all the information you need to keep your kid’s teeth strong and healthy, so if there is ever anything you would like to know then please just ask our dental team professionals and visit www.envysmile.com.