In children, the first permanent tooth is usually the first molars which erupt at the age of 6 years. Children cannot provide their oral hygiene well at the age of 6. Despite this, they have their first permanent tooth, that they will use forever, in their mouth. What should be done to prevent first molar tooth decay?
The answer to this question is to inculcate the habit of brushing teeth in children as we stated before and to keep them away from decay-causing foods. Besides this, preventive treatments applied by the dentist prevent decay in the permanent teeth of children. If children are brought to the dentist every 6 months regularly, TOPICAL FLUORIDE application and FISSURE SEALANT application we perform in our clinic can be performed. Topical fluoride application strengthens children’s permanent teeth making them more resistant to decay. Fissure sealants prevent decay-causing foods such as candy, chocolate etc. from clinging to the tooth surface by covering the recesses and protrusions on the premolars and molars and from causing tooth decay by entering those recesses. Moreover it contributes to the prevention of tooth decay in the other areas hanks to the fluoride in it.
Since milk teeth are temporary, they are neglected by the parents with the thought that they will change sooner or later. Therefore, such a thought causes negligence of milk teeth cleaning and milk tooth decay. It should be noted that caries in milk teeth both cause the teeth of the child and damage his/her permanent teeth. When milk teeth are neglected and cannot be saved with filling, they need to be extracted. Early loss of milk teeth is one of the most important factors of crowded teeth in children. As a result of early loss of milk teeth, the teeth in the mouth slide into the cavity, and there is no space left for permanent teeth to erupt, the result is crowding. Therefore the health of milk teeth is very important. Oral hygiene should start from the eruption of the teeth for children. While s/he is still a baby you should just clean the surface of the baby’s teeth with a clean rag cloth after every feeding. When the child grows to the age of 2, you should start using a toothbrush.
It is sometimes observed that brown stains appear on the baby’s teeth as soon as they erupt or that these teeth are broken and lost. Actually these stains are signs of decay and the tooth may breake because of tooth decay. The reason why tooth decay occurs at such an early age is the cavities called bottle-feeding cavities. The breast milk that is the most important nutrient in infant nutrition or cow milk naturally contains sugar. If the baby sucks breast milk or baby bottle at night before going to bed or during sleep, the milk accumulates in the mouth and it forms an environment which is convenient for the microbes to decay the teeth. For this reason, the cleaning of the teeth should be cared especially after the night nutrition.
Prevent the habit of sleeping with baby bottle at nights of your baby. Try to put him/her to sleep after feeding. Do not add sweeteners such as sugar, honey, and molasses to the milk in the baby bottle. Do give your baby water after feeding. With the eruption of the first teeth, clean your child’s teeth with a clean and wet muslin after night and morning feeding.
If the teeth on which baby bottle decay is observed are not treated, they cause pain and inflame. Inflamed or aching teeth make the baby anxious and disturb the nutrition. The inflammation also affects the permanent teeth and cause them to become deformed. If these teeth need to be extracted, speech problems may arise in the child.
Giving teats as sinking to sweeteners such as honey, molasses, jam with the aim of calming down crying babies in addition to baby bottles is another reason of baby bottle tooth decay. Besides, the foods containing carbohydrate-sugar given to the baby with the aim of occupying after the eruption of the teeth can also cause tooth decay. It is required to lead the child to the foods such as apple, carrot whose nutrition value is high and assistant to tooth cleaning instead of this type of foods.
Today, preventive medition has gained importance in dentistry and other medical sciences. When it comes to preventive medicine, prevention of tooth decay comes to mind. FLUORIDE is the substance we use to make the teeth more resistant to decay. Fluoride is an element that prevents tooth decay and strengthens tooth structure. The fluoride is found in some food substances as well as the tooth pastes. But, since the children mostly neglect to brush their teeth, they have not taken the sufficient fluoride in order that their teeth may gain resistance against the caries. In order to avoid this case, professional TOPICAL FLUORIDE applications are performed in dental clinics. Professional topical fluoride application is a method that can be applied by the dentist only. Topical fluoride is especially applied to children whose teeth are prone to decay. By this means, sufficient amount of fluoride is stored in the teeth, and strengthened tooth becomes resistant to decay. Topical fluoride application may be effective only if it is done every 6 months. So, bring your children to the dentist regularly once every 6 months…. Fissure sealant applications: Fissure sealants, within the scope of preventive medicine, prevent decay-causing foods such as candy, chocolate etc. from clinging to the tooth surface by covering the recesses and protrusions on the premolars and molars and from causing tooth decay by entering those recesses. Moreover it contributes to the prevention of tooth decay in the other areas hanks to the fluoride in it.
