Must Guidelines To Free Your Child From Oral Health Threats

March 5th, 2008

Regardless of age, the struggle against cavities and gum disease leaves no exception to anyone. Of course, we don’t want to suffer from these dental problems and twice we want our children 100% free from these oral health threats. If we fail to get our kids off to a good start even about simple things like cavities, they may be dealing with issues like severe periodontal disease and poor oral health for the rest of their lives. Tooth decay, when left untreated, can have the following impact upon the child’s performance: chronic pain, underweight (may affect cognitive development), increased absences from school, and poor social skills because of fear from embarrassment due to bad teeth.

Parents should make sure that they help their children avoid those common pediatric dental health problems among. These simple steps can indeed help prevent both common dental problems and also give the child a solid foundation that will help them avoid bigger issues such as advanced periodontal disease later on in life.

* Check for the appearance of spots on teeth every month-nearly 25% of children aged 5 or under have some degree of tooth decay and the appearance of a spot on the teeth is the first sign of trouble

* Be sure to set-up a dental screening by the age of 1. This allows the dentist to make sure that the child is off to a good start and a plan can be put in place to rectify any early signs of common dental problems like cavities

* Fluoride drops-when a dentist does see cavities in this early screening, it may be an indication that the community water is not fluoridated. Fluoride has helped reduce tooth decay by nearly 50% since it was first introduced into dental care and most communities add this vital element to their water. In places where this does not occur (or is not occurring at the proper level), the dentist may recommend fluoride drops

* Do not share toothbrushes

* Help children with brushing through age six to make sure that the proper brushing techniques are taught and followed daily