Does your kid sleep with a bottle of milk in mouth? Visit your Dentist immediately!
Even though your child's baby teeth are temporary, they are important, and are still susceptible to cavities. Tooth decay in infants and toddlers is often referred to as Baby Bottle Tooth Decay, or Early Childhood Caries.
Though there are many factors that can cause this, the most common and overlooked cause is prolonged exposure of the baby’s teeth to Milk or drinks that contain sugar. Many parents tend to make the baby sleep with a bottle of milk in his/her mouth.
In many toddlers, it is also seen that the parents put their kids to bed with the bottle in the mouth just to pacify fussy kids. While it is a simple thing for parents, it can harm the growing teeth of the kids to a great extent.
Tooth Decay is deposition of harmful bacteria on the teeth, and must be treated just like any other medical ailment. It is harmful to the kids in many ways which one not even thinks of:
Due to Tooth decay, the smile of the kid is affected, hence the kid might face sociological problem among friends and other people. This impacts the personality of the child in a negative way.
They make the tooth sensitive hence the kid has problems in biting food. This makes the kid depleted in nutrition in their early growing days, and has a huge impact on the physical & mental growth of the child.
Many Indian parents consider the milk teeth of the kids as temporary ones, and hence ignore the problems faced by their child because of tooth decay. This needs proper intervention.
One can easily prevent Nursing bottle caries by following given steps
Try not to share feeding spoons with the baby, this also transmits the bacteria to the baby
If your child uses a pacifier, provide one that is clean—don’t dip it in sugar or honey.
Encourage your child to drink from a cup by his/her first birthday.
Encourage healthy eating habits.
After each feeding, wipe your child’s gums with a clean, damp gauze pad or washcloth.
When your child’s teeth come in, brush them gently with a child-size toothbrush and a smear (or grain of rice sized amount) of fluoride toothpaste until the age of THREE.
Brush the teeth with a pea-sized dab of "fluoride" toothpaste from the ages of 3 to 6.
Supervise brushing until your child can be counted on to spit and not swallow toothpaste—usually not before he or she is 6 or 7.
Infants should finish their bedtime and nap time bottles before going to bed.
Place only formula, milk or breast milk in bottles. Avoid filling the bottle with liquids such as sugar water, juice or soft drinks.
As your Kid's teeth starts to erupt, make sure to visit your Dentist for checkup. Make this a habit for the kids to visit the dentist regularly for good Dental Health for his future.