Why are baby teeth important?

We advise parents to introduce their child to professional dental care from the age of 3 years old. This may include watching a parent have their teeth cleaned or having their own baby teeth cleaned and polished with a soft brush. This gives the child a positive experience and allows the child to grow with little or no anxiety towards the benefits of preventative care.

Even thought baby teeth fall out naturally, it’s important this does not happen prematurely. Baby teeth help guide the growth of the jawbones and ensure adult teeth come through in their correct position. Baby teeth also play a vital role in speech development as children learn to sound out words.

Back molar teeth need to last until your child is around thirteen, which is why daily brushing and flossing and a healthy diet is essential for helping to maintain the health of baby teeth. It’s also important to help your child brush and floss until they are at least eight years old, as many younger children do not have the strength or ability to do this effectively enough on their own. Our clinic can provide helpful tips on helping your child with their daily cleaning routine.

Fissure sealants

Children’s molar teeth are very vulnerable to decay as the pits and fissures can be quite deep and therefore difficult to clean, even with a child’s small toothbrush. To prevent plaque and tartar build-up and decay developing, fissure sealant is often applied.

Similar to thickness to nail polish, fissure sealant is applied to fill the deep grooves and after only a few minutes sets hard, creating a protective barrier between the tooth enamel and plaque. The sealant also contains fluoride for added tooth protection.

Applying fissure sealant is a pain-free procedure, which takes approximately five minutes per tooth.

The best time to apply fissure sealant is immediately following the emergence of your child’s first permanent molars, around age six. We then advise fissure sealant also be applied to the second permanent adult premolars come through, which usually occurs between the ages of eleven and thirteen.

Diet monitoring

Children’s teeth are particularly vulnerable to tooth decay caused by food acid. Encouraging your child to have tooth friendly snacks such as carrot and celery sticks, natural plain yoghurt, cheese and crunchy fruits including apple and pear slices over sugary treats will help keep their teeth and gums healthy. This can significantly reduce the risk of developing tooth decay and cavities.

While every parent likes to give their children treats now and then, snacks such as cakes, biscuits, chewy or hard lollies like caramel or toffee, muesli bars and dried fruit stick to teeth for a long time after eating them. This will expose your child’s teeth to decay causing acid for prolonged periods. Fruit juice, soft drinks and cordials have a high concentration of sugar and citric acid, which can further damage tooth enamel. After having these snacks and drinks, we advise your child rinses with fluoridated water to help neutralize the effects of there food acids.