Avoiding cavities seems like a simple thing.
All you need is brushing your teeth regularly, a balanced diet, and frequent visits to the dentist.
However, experts consider that many parents have bad habits when it comes to their children's dental hygiene.
According to a Social Security study, 36% of 6-year-olds have decayed or filled teeth. Among 12-year-olds, the percentage rises to 44%!
Naturally, the question arises:do we really know how to manage the health of our children's teeth?
Discover the 7 mistakes to avoid for the health of your children's teeth.
And, above all, find out how to ensure that your children have a healthy smile, throughout their lives! :-)
Before the age of 8, most children simply do not have the motor skills to brush their teeth effectively.
It's not a problem of willpower:it's rather that children do not have the necessary dexterity to brush every corner of their teeth.
Therefore, children under the age of 8 need to be supervised when brushing their teeth. Make sure your child brushes the entire surface of each tooth!
As a parent, it's normal to want your child to fall asleep without difficulty — and the bottle seems to be an effective and harmless solution.
However, did you know that giving a bottle to your child before bedtime and during the night is the main cause of cavities in baby teeth?
According to a study by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry , 85% of parents know that giving a bottle at bedtime is harmful to the health of teeth.
Despite this, 20% of them continue to put their child to bed with a bottle of milk or fruit juice!
Whether it's a bottle before bed or during the night, it's a habit that slowly but continuously releases high levels of sugars and bacteria.
So how do you break this bad habit?
Here is our advice:
The idea is to break the vicious cycle of bottle feeding before bedtime and during the night.
When your baby asks for a bottle in the middle of the night, wipe his mouth with a compress or soft cloth. If your child already has teeth, brush them.
The sooner you practice this method, the sooner your child will get used to it.
According to several experts, it is common for children between the ages of 2 and 3 to have to treat a cavity or an infection - using general anesthesia!
Why such radical methods?
One explanation is that parents wait far too long before their child's first visit to the dentist.
Here's what you need to know:
The first consultation with a dentist must take place as soon as your child's first teeth appear or before his 1st birthday.
Taking your child to the dentist every 6 months, right from the start, has another benefit.
Indeed, your child will not associate the dentist with a toothache. Therefore, she/he will be comfortable on every visit.
You think you're doing the right thing when you feed your child bananas, grapes, or whole-grain cookies.
But in reality, these foods have a high sugar content and easily stick to your teeth. The result ? Cavities!
Please note:this does not necessarily mean that these foods must be completely eliminated.
Instead of offering this type of food as a snack, serve them as an addition to a meal.
This will give your child more saliva to make these foods less sticky. And don't forget to insist on brushing your teeth after every meal!
Certainly, nowadays, it is easy to treat a cavity.
However, cavities can have serious consequences.
For example, having healthy baby teeth is imperative for normal dental development. This is because they act as a spacer for adult teeth. Milk teeth also serve as a guide for jaw development.
In addition, a cavity can quickly turn into an infection. If so, it has an impact on the development of adult teeth. And, in the event of an abscess, anesthesia will certainly be necessary to treat your child.
Finally, leaving a cavity untreated can cause several problems in young children. There are speech disorders and sleep disturbances.
These problems can in turn lead to a loss of self-confidence and poor academic performance.
Fluoride is a controversial subject.
Although controversial, the research is conclusive:it is one of the most effective ways to prevent cavities.
On the other hand, it is of the utmost importance to control the amount of toothpaste your child uses. Here are some guidelines:
- For children under 3 years old, the equivalent of a grain of rice is enough for brushing their teeth.
- For children from 3 to 6 years old, it does not take more than the equivalent of a pea.
And if you're worried about your child's exposure to fluoride (tap water, toothpaste), don't hesitate to talk to your dentist about it.
In older children, one of the main causes of cavities are sugary drinks. These sugar-packed drinks are easily found everywhere:at recess, with friends, and (unfortunately) at home.
The result?
The teeth of children who drink too many sugary drinks are constantly bathed in an acid environment. Therefore, it prevents their pH from balancing.
The ideal is of course to avoid sugary drinks in general. But, if you can't persuade your child, at least demand that she/he practice moderation (i.e. drink in smaller amounts and less often).
Here you have discovered the 7 mistakes to avoid to preserve the health of children's teeth.
We hope that our advice will be useful — especially for the smile of your little ones :-)
