What to Know About Your Child’s Dental Health [Blog]
It’s a war out there!
The grocery store shelves are lined with an endless army of sugary, highly-processed foods that threaten your family’s oral health.
If you don’t have the luxury of kid-free grocery shopping, you know how tough it is to deflect all the begging and pleading for this snack or that juice.
Then there’s the moment where you have no choice but to step behind enemy lines – the check out lane. You’re surrounded by unfriendly fire in the shape of chocolate-covered gooey goodness, all brightly packaged to attract the wandering, darling little eyes of the kiddo’s!
Any parent who hasn’t exhausted themselves keeping all the flailing little arms inside the cart needs to tell us their secret!
While we won’t be much help in the way the supermarket battlefield you face on a regular basis, we can help arm you with the facts about your child’s dental health.
What to Know About Your Child’s Dental Health
Our team at 1st In Smiles wants to raise awareness about some common oral health challenges parents face when trying to keep their child’s teeth and gums healthy. When you have the facts, and you instill good oral hygiene habits in your kids early, you’ll have an impressive arsenal against tooth decay, cavities, and gum disease!
*Prolonged Sugar Intake Is Worse Than Amount
You might have assumed that drinking one soda per day is better than drinking five sodas a day.
Not so fast!
The truth is prolonged exposure to sugar is the real danger to your teeth.
Sipping one sugary drink all afternoon, or letting your child fall asleep sucking on a bottle are more threatening to their teeth.
That’s because the longer your teeth and gums are exposed to sugar, the more opportunity bacteria has to feed on it, create acids, and attack your teeth.
*Tooth Decay Is a Bigger Problem Than You Think
You may be surprised to learn that there is one chronic health problem children face more than any other.
More than asthma.
More than obesity.
It’s tooth decay, and it’s responsible for a host of oral health problems if it’s untreated. Tooth sensitivity, toothaches, oral infections, cavities, and poor function are issues your child shouldn’t have to face.
*Kids Lose a Lot of School Because of Dental Problems
Your child’s education is one of your top priorities, and you want them to spend as much time in the classroom as possible.
That’s a challenge in itself given all the germs they’re exposed to day in and day out in grade school. It’s even harder during flu season.
Dental problems shouldn’t add to the challenge of keeping your kids healthy enough to maintain good attendance.
But the research tells us that more than 51 million hours of instruction are lost because of that very issue!
*Cavities Shouldn’t Be Ignored
An untreated cavity is like a ticking time bomb for your child’s oral health.
A recent study published by the CDC showed that upwards of 20% of kids between 2 and 19 years of age have cavities that have gone ignored and untreated.
When you don’t treat cavities, they get bigger. Once they’ve grown to a certain point, a standard filling won’t do, and your child will require more complicated restorative treatment to treat the decay.
*Daily Brushing & Flossing Is a Must!
Don’t believe anything you hear about baby teeth not being important. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Although it’s fair to wonder how valuable it is to practice daily diligence with teeth they’ll eventually lose, it ignores the impact unhealthy baby teeth can have on adult teeth.
If your child has a decaying baby tooth, for example, it’s at risk for premature extraction. This can make the adult tooth meant to take its place come in awkwardly or not at all.
The important thing to remember is that if you want your child’s adult teeth strong and healthy when they erupt, their baby teeth have to be just as healthy and strong.
Schedule a Dental Check-Up!
One of the best ways to achieve good oral health for a lifetime is to stay committed to daily hygiene and routine professional check-ups.
This is easier said than done if you came to best oral care practices a little later in life. That’s why you’re doing your kids a favor when you instill good dental habits in them as soon as their first teeth erupt.
By the time they reach adulthood, brushing and flossing each and every day will be second nature.
And you’re bringing them to a family dentist who creates a fun, friendly environment!
Your child’s positive experiences with Dr. Barfield and our caring staff at 1st In Smiles will keep dental fear and anxiety from ever standing in the way of their best oral health.
Schedule your family’s next dental check-up! Call our Plano, TX dental office today at 972-380-8105 to schedule an appointment, or use our convenient online form.