If you are a parent, you are likely concerned about ensuring that your child grows up with a beautiful smile and good oral health. To do this, it is important to establish good practices regarding dental and oral hygiene from a young age. To shed some light on this topic, we answer three questions that parents often ask us about their children's oral hygiene.
How to clean a baby's mouth?
Even if babies do not yet have teeth, it is important to clean their mouth after feedings. This allows them to become familiar with oral hygiene care. To do this, we recommend taking a damp cloth and gently rubbing their gums with it.
As soon as the first tooth appears, you can start brushing it with a soft-bristled toothbrush and a very small amount of toothpaste. When primary teeth erupt and up to the age of 2, only a quantity of toothpaste equivalent to the size of a rice grain should be used.
How much toothpaste should young children use?
Beyond the age of 2 and up to 6 years old, a quantity of toothpaste equivalent to the size of a pea should be used. As parents, you are responsible for supervising your child during tooth brushing, especially to ensure that they use an adequate amount of toothpaste, but also to help them adopt the right technique for brushing teeth.
It is important for young children to avoid using too much toothpaste while brushing their teeth. In fact, young children are likely to swallow toothpaste, which should be avoided. When a child ingests toothpaste, they are exposed to the fluoride contained in it. This exposes them to a risk of dental fluorosis, which is the appearance of whitish or brownish spots on the surface of the teeth. Even though fluorosis has mostly aesthetic consequences, it is best to avoid it by teaching children to spit out the toothpaste after brushing their teeth.
Why treat cavities on primary teeth?
You might think that it is not essential to treat primary teeth affected by tooth decay, since they will fall out and be replaced by permanent teeth. However, it is very important to treat the small teeth of children when cavities appear. Indeed, primary teeth in young children are more fragile due to thinner and less resistant enamel, making them more prone to developing cavities. In addition, cavities can quickly spread to a large number of teeth, or even the entire dentition. This condition is called "early childhood caries". To prevent this from happening, cavities on children's primary teeth must be treated. Untreated cavities can even cause problems in the development of a child's permanent teeth.
At Dents Mon Quartier, we rely on Dr. Eric Chang, a general dentist, to provide our young patients with dental care tailored to their needs. He is responsible for our pediatric dentistry department and will be able to answer all your questions about your little ones' dental health!
Approved by Dre Charouk
Dr. Joumana Charouk, D.M.D, is proud to offer her patients exceptional care that combines experience, efficiency and good humor.
Dre Joumana Charouk, D.M.D