How to Care for Your Infant's Teeth?

How to Care for Your Infant's Teeth?

September 1, 2022

You might watch your newborn drool and fuss for a few weeks before you eventually spot the first tooth emerging through the gums. Over the next two years, two rows of teeth will replace your baby’s smile.

Baby teeth are tiny but are also important. They function as placeholders for permanent teeth. Your child will confront challenges chewing, smiling, and speaking correctly without a healthy set of baby teeth. It is why you must care for your child’s baby teeth ensuring that you keep them decay-free.

When you start early visits to the pediatric dentist in Greeley with your child, you get the baby to become accustomed to a daily routine remaining with them for life.

Caring for Your Baby’s Gums

When thinking about your kid’s oral health, you must also pay attention to their gums from the start. When caring for the gums, you don’t need a toothbrush or toothpaste and can rely on a delicate piece of gauze or moistened washcloth. Wipe your kid’s gums twice daily, remembering to clean them after every feeding and bedtime.

Cleaning the child’s gums will help clean mouth bacteria and prevent them from staying on the gums, leaving sticky dental plaque damaging the infant’s teeth when they appear.

Brushing Your Child’s Teeth

Infant’s dentistry in Greeley recommends brushing your child’s teeth as a start emerging using a toothbrush. The pediatric dentist suggests waiting until four teeth have rapid before starting to brush with a soft-bristled toothbrush with a tiny head and a large handle. Initially, do not consider using toothpaste for brushing. Instead, soak the toothbrush in warm water to soften the bristles further before using it on the child’s teeth.

You can start using a tiny grain of toothpaste no bigger than a rice grain and increase the fluoride toothpaste to a pea-sized grain when the child is three.

Fluoride, a fundamental mineral, helps protect and strengthen tooth enamel to battle against cavities. Using fluoride toothpaste in your child’s mouth protects developing teeth better. However, some dentists might recommend using fluoride toothpaste only after your child learns to spit it out. Children receive plenty of fluoride from drinking water and aren’t permitted to swallow concentrated fluoride from toothpaste.

You can find various brands of children’s toothpaste with flavors that are child pleasing and encourage brushing. Choose a brand your child likes ensuring the toothpaste is authenticated by the feel of acceptance from the American Dental Association.

Your child’s teeth need brushing twice a day, just like adult teeth. It would help if you brushed them in the morning and before bedtime. Ensure you spend two minutes brushing their teeth and concentrating on their molars, where cavities are most likely to develop. Switch the existing toothbrush for a new one every 90 days.

After your child has developed all their baby teeth, you can start flossing them once a day. You can use floss sticks or picks for ease of use for you and your child inside of regular floss strings. After brushing before bedtime, floss the child’s teeth, ensuring you don’t give them any foods or drinks besides water until the following day.

Your child requires your assistance when rushing until they are old enough to hold the toothbrush themselves. You might have to wait for six years for the baby teeth to emerge, but you must teach children the best techniques of brushing by leading by example. Allow your child to watch the spectacle as you brush to teach them the importance of appropriate oral hygiene.

Your child will receive a fluoride rinse from the pediatric dentist when they are six years old to help prevent cavities. However, you must remain on the lookout for signs of baby tooth decay by watching out for white and brown spots on the. Schedule an appointment with the Greeley pediatric dentist for exams and cleanings if you observe any problems.

Even if you don’t notice any problems with your child’s teeth, dental visits must begin no later than the child’s first birthday and continue every six months after the emergence of the first tooth. Early preventive care ensures you save money later. When your child develops molars, pediatric dentists recommend dental sealants on them as a preventive barrier against cavities. The early treatments and care you provide help your child retain a beautiful smile and maintain optimal oral health.

Toothtown of Greeley can provide appropriate instructions on caring for an infant’s teeth if you have a newborn at home. Please schedule an appointment with this practice today to learn how to manage your child’s teeth to help them maintain their oral health and a beautiful smile.

Our pediatric dentistry office in Greeley, CO proudly serves the infants, kids, and teens from our community and nearby areas

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