Oral Health Problems in Children – Children Dentist Near Me

Children can suffer from different kinds of dental problems. This can include tongue thrusting, tooth decay, lip sucking, thumb sucking, etc. Though baby teeth ultimately fall off and make way for permanent teeth, it is important to keep your baby’s teeth healthy to make sure that he/she leads an overall healthy life. 

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay:

This problem can be caused when your baby’s teeth are in touch with the sugar coming out from fruit juices, milk, etc. If a baby falls asleep during breastfeeding with milk in his/her mouth that is not swallowed, the chances of suffering from tooth decay increases by several notches. The bacteria present in the mouth thrive in the presence of sugar particles and initiate the process of tooth decay.

If tooth decay is ignored, it can be the reason for facing pain and discomfort while eating or chewing. To add on, the baby teeth also guide the permanent teeth to emerge in an appropriate position. So, having damaged baby teeth can contribute to the chances of the permanent teeth being crowded or crooked. You need to know that if a baby’s teeth are badly decayed, it can result in the child having an abscessed tooth that can result in the spread of infection to other parts of the body. 

How Do I Prevent Baby Bottle Tooth Decay?

You should avoid giving your child a bottle filled with sugary stuff to just calm him/her during the day. Instead, you can give your kid water or better still, a pacifier. Make sure to not dip the pacifier in either honey and sugar. 

Also, your kid should never go to bed with a bottle containing sugary drinks in his/her mouth. Pacifier or water is still better. One should avoid too much water as it can also be harmful to your child’s oral health. It is recommended to avoid adding sugar to your kid’s food. 

Use gauze or a white cloth to wipe your child’s teeth and gums after every feeding session. This can be an effective way to get rid of the sugar and plaque that can build up around your teeth and gumline. 

Feel no hesitation to consult your dentist if you have confusion about the fluoride needs of your kid. In case you cannot get your hands on fluoridated drinking water, the dentist can ask to go for fluoride supplements or treatments. You should start teaching your kid how to drink from the cup around his/her first birthday. This can be really helpful in not exposing your child’s teeth to sugars. 

Thumb Sucking

Thumb sucking is pretty normal and healthy for kids. This gives them comfort as well as emotional security. But, if the thumb sucking continues even when your kid turns 5 (when the permanent teeth start to erupt), it can be the reason for various dental problems. 

Your baby’s teeth can be misaligned based on the duration, repetitiveness, and intensity of thumb sucking. It can make the teeth stick out and cause the problem of overbite. Having an overbite can hamper the speech of your kid. To add on, the upper and the lower jaws can misalign whereas the malformation is almost inevitable. 

Tips to Help Your Child Stop Thumb Sucking

You need to realize that thumb sucking in the case of children is not abnormal at all. So, you should not be very worried if the permanent teeth have not started to come out already. It is imperative for you to ensure that thumb sucking doesn’t become an addictive habit for your kid. But, if it somehow becomes a habit, encourage your child to help quit thumb sucking. 

You should not use negative reinforcement such as scolding, nagging, or punishing to stop the habit of thumb sucking. Incorporation of all such measures can affect your kid’s mental health and make him/her resistive. 

You can also reward your kid from time to time for not sucking his/her thumb. Increase the time span to earn the reward slowly and steadily. This can be really helpful in achieving top-notch outcomes. Covering your kid’s thumb with a band-aid is also a way to resolve the problem of thumb-sucking.

Determining the actual cause of thumb sucking is the first step when it comes to solving the problem of thumb sucking. If you figure out the cause, do try to fix it. The moment you do so, your child will stop sucking his/her thumb. In case it doesn’t work, do consult a dentist as early as possible. A device can be attached to the upper part of your kid’s teeth, making the thumb sucking experience less enjoyable. 

Tongue Thrusting

Tongue thrusting is about making the mouth air-free for swallowing by pushing hard the tip of the tongue in opposition to the lips. Doing this puts pressure on the frontier teeth similar to that of thumb sucking. It can be the reason for teeth misalignment and lead to an overbite or even hamper your natural speech. 

Visit a speech pathologist if you see any signs of tongue thrusting. He/she will provide you with a treatment plan formulated keeping your requirements under consideration. This kind of treatment will enable your kid to develop a fresh swallowing pattern and enhance their chewing muscles. 

Lip Sucking

The constant holding of the lower lips below the upper front teeth is known as lip sucking. Your child can suffer from this problem alone or along with thumb sucking. If ignored, lip-sucking can contribute to the probability of your kid having an overbite. This is the same problem common with tongue thrusting and thumb sucking. You can adopt the measures prescribed for tongue thrusting or thumb sucking to solve the issue of lip sucking. 

Early Tooth Loss

Early loss of teeth can be caused by less jaw space, injury, and tooth decay. If the premature teeth loss happens before the eruption of permanent teeth, there are high chances of the adjacent teeth getting tipped or shifted. It can be the reason for crooked or misaligned teeth. This ultimately may play a factor in causing problems related to chewing as well as be the reason for serious dental problems. 

Using a space maintainer can be a way to fix the issue of early tooth loss. The open space that is left behind by the lost tooth will be held by a space maintainer. It is generally removed once the permanent teeth start to come out. 

We hope that you now know the common dental problems in kids. Contact Restoration Smiles if you are looking for the best children’s dentistry services in Tomball, TX. Just give us a call to schedule your kid’s visit today!