Posts Tagged ‘children’s oral health’

5 Ways to Protect Your Child’s Teeth at Home

Posted on: October 2nd, 2012 by Nicholas Geller, DDS No Comments

Parents typically provide oral hygiene care until the child is old enough to take personal responsibility for the daily dental health routine of brushing and flossing. A proper regimen of home preventive care is important from the day your child is born.

  1. Clean your infant’s gums with a clean, damp cloth. Ask your dentist if you may rub a tiny dab of toothpaste on the gums.
  2. As soon as the first teeth come in, begin brushing them with a small, soft-bristled toothbrush and a pea-sized dab of fluoride toothpaste. Remember, most children are also getting fluoride from the community water supply.
  3. To avoid baby bottle tooth decay and teeth misalignment due to sucking, try to wean your child off of the breast and bottle by one year of age, and monitor excessive sucking of pacifiers, fingers and thumbs. Never give your child a bottle of milk, juice or sweetened liquid as a pacifier at naptime or bedtime.
  4. Help a young child brush at night–the most important time to brush, due to lower salivary flow and higher susceptibility to cavities and plaque. Perhaps let the child brush their teeth first to build self-confidence, then the parent can follow up to ensure that all plaque is removed. Usually by age 5 or so, the child can learn to brush his or her own teeth with proper parental instruction.
  5. The best way to teach a child how to brush is to lead by good example. Allowing your child to watch you brush your teeth teaches the importance of good oral hygiene.

Sealants for Kids

Posted on: July 24th, 2012 by Nicholas Geller, DDS No Comments

Simply Good Parenting

Of course we want the best for our children, and most of us work at good parenting every day: quality schools, solid values, a sense of family. Time and money may put limits on what we can do for our kids’ health and happiness, but not when it comes to sealants. Sealants are, well, a bargain.

Sealants are a risk-free, wear-resistant, and painless resin coating that actually bonds to the surface of teeth, sealing out decay.

A child’s dental development is pretty much predictable. As molars appear—about six years of age—the enamel is the last to form. Between the ages of six and nine, precious enamel may be missing from the surface of teeth. Since youngsters are not always the best brushers, cavities are waiting in the wings.

The good news: sealants prevent about 80% of the cavities a typical child might otherwise have if left untreated. A bargain now with lifetime benefits.