Pedodontics

At which age your child’s first dental visit should be done?

Your child should be under the control of a dentist when the first teeth start to appear in order to prevent and for early detection of problems in teeth and maxillofacial development. Your child’s meeting with the dentist before formation of any tooth decay brings many advantages.

The American Association of Pediatric Dentists states that a dental examination is necessary starting from one year old at the latest together with the eruption of the first milk tooth.

When You Should Start Brushing Your Child’s Teeth ?

With the appearance of the first tooth in the mouth (approximately 6 months old), children are at risk of cavities. For this reason, parents should start cleaning their children’s teeth as soon as the first tooth erupts.

Milk teeth are less resistant to decay since their mineral level is low. For this reason, milk teeth decay faster and cavity progresses faster. Although feeding of babies is very frequent during this period, teeth cleaning twice a day is important to prevent cavity formation.

The mother can clean the baby’s first teeth with a clean gauze pad. Again, in this period baby toothbrushes which the mother can place on her finger is also used to clean baby teeth. After the age of 2.5-3 years old, toothbrushing should be continued by switching to toothbrushes suitable for the age of the child. It should be taken into consideration that the bristles of the toothbrush are not hard and the brushing technique is not too harsh.

Which toothpaste should be used?

The use of toothpaste with fluoride content before the age of 3 is not recommended due to the baby’s risk of swallowing. However, there are toothpastes suitable for babies on the market that do not contain fluoride, do not foam and contain fully digestive enzymes. After 3 years old, children’s toothpaste with fluoride content can be used. It is important to take care to use only children’s toothpaste until the age of 12.

The important point is the mechanical cleaning of the teeth. Using more toothpaste does not mean a better cleaning. It should be taken care of that the toothpaste should be put a grain-of-lentil sized on the toothbrush. In addition, since the toothpaste with saliva foams, there is no need to wet the toothpaste put on the toothbrush with water.

Your child’s teeth begin to develop before birth and normally their first teeth erupt between the ages of 6 months and 12 months. The gums are painful and sensitive during the eruption of the tooth. Gently rubbing the gums with a clean finger, the back of a cold spoon, or a cold wet cloth can be helpful to soothe the gums. Teething rings work well but avoid teething biscuits because they contain sugars that are not good for milk teeth. In most children, the middle lower incisors will appear first, then upper middle incisors.

Permanent teeth begin to erupt at the age of 6 years. This process continues until about 12 years of age.

What are the symptoms of tooth eruption in babies?

In the 3-month period, which is the beginning of the teething period of babies; Symptoms such as increase of saliva, mild fever, crying, restlessness, slight rash around the mouth, bites on the hands, insomnia, anorexia may be observed in infants. When these symptoms begin to appear, parents, especially should be alert to them.

What mothers can do while their babies are teething?

Applying slight pressure to the gums: Gum massage can be performed with a clean and cold wet.

Use of teether: After keeping plastic and paint-free teethers in the refrigerator for a while, you can make your baby scratch their gums by giving them to your baby. It should be taken care of that the teether should not be kept in the freezer. Otherwise, frozen teether may stick to your baby’s tongue, cheek or lip.

Feeding cold foods: You will both alleviate the pain and prevent the loss of nutrients and water by feeding your baby with anorexia cold fruit purees and water.

Use of drugs to reduce pain: Syrups containing paracetamol or ibuprofen may be useful in reducing pain. However, it is more appropriate not to use too much medicine while teething. Because it can reduce the fever caused by another underlying disease, it may lead that you and your doctor can not be aware of that disease.

Which oral habits that can disrupt the jaw development of children?

Thumb/finger sucking

Feeding bottle or pacifier sucking

Nail-biting

Object-biting

Food pocketing

Mouth breathing

Bruxism

Thumb Sucking:

In most children, thumb sucking stops between the ages of two and four. However, if the habit continues after the eruption of main teeth, this can drastically change the growth pattern of the jaw and cause misalignment of the teeth seriously.

The jaws of children who are in the rapid growth and development period are relatively soft and flexible, especially of those under the age of eight. Therefore, it is not difficult for the constant upper pressure of the thumb to deform the soft bone around the lower and upper front teeth. Strong thumb sucking is more likely to change the growth pattern of children’s teeth and jaws.

If the thumb-sucking habit continues, it can cause the upper front teeth to protrude and the lower ones to move back and in. It can also cause the upper jaw to move forward while preventing growth of the lower jaw. This can lead to misalignment of the teeth, open bite in the anterior region (in which upper and lower teeth do not overlap), collapse of the upper jaw, and crossbites. Therefore, it is important to stop the habit at an appropriate time before the occurrence of any disorder.

Mouth Breathing:

Respiratory problems negatively affect jaw development. If there is only mouth breathing, no nose breathing (the case is better understood during sleeping), an otolaryngologist should be definitely consulted.

Mouth breathing can be caused by the following reasons:

Long narrow face
Narrow mouth
High palate
Crooked teeth (upper and lower)

Other symptoms of mouth breathing:

Swollen tonsils
Open mouth breathing while sleeping
Snoring

What are the preventive approaches in pedodontics?

Oral hygiene education

Informing and education of parents

Information regarding healthy nutrition

Fluoride treatments

Fissur sealent procedure

Preventive and corrective orthodontic treatments

Use of night guards to prevent bruxism

Use of dental guards during sports games

What is fluorine?

Fluorine is a trace element found in air, water and rocks. It has a decay protective effect on the teeth and increases the resistance of the teeth to decay, so it is added to toothpastes in small amounts.

Professional applications in which the amount of fluorine and decay protective effect is higher are performed by your dentist using fluoride varnish or fluoride gel at intervals of 3-6-12 months in the clinic environment.

What is a space maintainer?

When milk teeth are lost early, adjacent teeth slide into the extraction space. As a result of the narrowing of the extraction space, the permanent tooth that will erupt in this site remains impacted or the teeth become crowded.

In order to prevent dental crowding, the space of the prematurely lost milk tooth should be preserved for the permanent tooth that will erupt. Appliances called as space maintainer with removable and fixed types are used for this purpose.

What should you do if your child’s front tooth is broken?

In cases where the front teeth are broken, if there is no serious problem with the general health condition of your child, you should immediately consult a dentist.

If you can find the broken tooth piece, you should bring it to the dentist. If it is possible, your dentist can cement this piece back to the tooth.

What you should do if front tooth is knocked out?

You should hold the knocked-out tooth without touching the root and wash it with clean water. However, while washing you should never do anything that will damage the living tissues in the root such as brushing or soaping. If you can, try to place the tooth back in the mouth. If you cannot, you should keep the tooth in milk and consult your dentist immediately. Since the time is very important for replacing the knocked-out teeth, visiting to the dentist as soon as possible increases the success of the treatment.