Infant’s Oral Health

Prevention supersedes treatment in all circumstances. While treatment in most cases is accompanied by stress, pain, even high cost, it is not the same with prevention. You spend relatively little to no money when it comes to prevention.

Babies' oral health should be given attention and consideration, even before they start teething or growing their first set of teeth.

Teething occurs after the first six to twelve months after birth. These first sets of teeth are termed milk teeth. They sprout first and are later replaced by stronger and more permanent ones.

At about three years of age, a baby is expected to have grown all 20 sets of teeth.

One common way to know when a baby's teeth start to grow is by looking out for a change in his or her smile; there is a transition from a gummy kind of grin to a smile that looks like that of a kid with teeth.

Other common signs of teething

Generally, teething in babies can be painful and irritating. This, however, varies in different degrees.

Below are common signs you see in babies growing their first set of teeth;

1. Frequent Dripping of saliva
2. Petulance
3. Mild to pronounce red decoloration of the gums with swelling.
4. Frequent rubbing of the ears
5. Inflammation of the facial skin
6. Mild temperature
7. Random sucking and always wanting to bite.

If any of these signs or symptoms persist, you should consider taking that baby to see a children's dentist near you; this might indicate other illnesses the baby might be having.

While your baby exhibits these signs, there are things you could probably do to help him or her during this early stage. Giving him things to chew like a rubber ring, cold soaked wash linen, among others, will help reduce his distress. This is true because the accompanying pressure from chewing would reduce the pressure from the erupting teeth. Also, rubbing his gum with a clean pad or neat finger would help lower the pressure too.

Caring for baby teeth

Ideally, even without a pronounced set of teeth on a baby, as a parenting mother, you should always ensure your baby's mouth is always cleaned up; this will at least reduce the population of the bacteria in the mouth.

For babies with teeth, use a soft, brittle small brush with little quantity of fluoride-containing toothpaste.

An oral cavity in babies

Oral cavities are holes in the tooth or teeth. They are formed by the acidic activities of bacteria on sugar in the mouth.

Cavities are not only common with adults, and children do have cavities, even babies too. This results from frequent exposure of baby teeth to excess sugar. The bacteria in the mouth feed on this sugar and proliferate. As this bacteria number increases, the excretion of acid as waste products also increases too. The acid produced attacks the enamel and the teeth, thereby boring holes in them; this is tooth decay.

One way to identify tooth decaying is the appearance of white spots on them. If you see this on your baby's tooth, then it's time for a visit to a dentist near you.

Lessard Dental is a place you would want to take your baby to, as they house some of the best children dentists in West Edmonton.

There are things you can do to prevent cavities in your baby's teeth. Below are some of the few ways to prevent tooth decaying in your baby.

Prevention of oral cavity

1. Exclude sticky foods from his or her meals
2. Reduce his juice intake. By the American Academy of Paediatrics, a daily 6 ounces of
   juice is okay for children above two years.
3. Avoid his pacifier from coming in contact with sugar or honey, and always keep it
   washed.