Oral diseases can also quietly extend its claws to children, due to the lack of parental oral health knowledge and the serious shortage of children’s dentists, many children do not receive timely and effective intervention and treatment.
Prevention of oral diseases is not only as simple as “brush your teeth well and eat less sweets”, but also regular checkups, early diagnosis and early treatment are very important. Early intervention of oral diseases and bad habits can avoid or reduce the harm of diseases on oral health.
Oral health care for children should start from birth and focus on prevention. Cultivating good oral health awareness in children is a gift that will benefit them for a lifetime.
Caries and the complications caused by it, common oral diseases such as abnormal tooth development, and poor oral hygiene habits not only destroy oral health and are not conducive to a child’s good personal image, but may also affect the whole body health.
From birth to adulthood, the human body is in the active stage of growth and development. Different age groups of children, there are different oral health care focus.
A, infancy and early childhood (0-3 years old)
At this time, the biggest change in the child’s mouth is from toothless to growing teeth, parents should pay attention to the correct way of feeding, while cultivating the habit of taking the child to the dentist regularly.
1.See the dentist within 1 year old, and have a checkup every six months
Babies are not yet 1 year old, they do not understand the doctor’s instructions, and some may not have teeth yet, so why should they see the dentist?
Babies should see a dentist within one year of age. In addition to early oral health assessment, the main purpose is for the doctor to communicate with parents and to carry out oral health knowledge. after the age of 1, it is best for the child to have a routine oral examination once every six months.
By providing targeted professional oral health guidance, the doctor enhances the oral health awareness of parents and children; it helps to judge the eruption of children’s teeth and assess their risk of caries, and if caries is found, it can be treated early, and children’s malocclusion, gingivitis and bad oral habits can be corrected in time.
Regular check-ups can make children familiar with the dental hospital consultation environment, close the distance with the medical staff, avoid and reduce the fear, and can better cooperate with the treatment. Each pediatric dentist has a lot of ‘hardcore fans’, many children go to college and also find back to the original doctor to see the teeth.
2, parents should master the correct way of feeding
Parents should pay attention to feeding hygiene, correct poor feeding practices, while paying attention to their own oral hygiene to avoid spreading pathogenic bacteria to their children. After the milk teeth erupt, don’t let the child hold the bottle with sweet milk or sweet drink for a long time, especially not to sleep with the bottle, otherwise it will cause infant caries (commonly known as “bottle caries”).
Some parents, especially grandparents, like to chew the food and feed the child, or put the pacifier or spoon into their own mouth to test the temperature, these are inappropriate. Because the oral cavity is an open bacterial environment, saliva exchange will lead to the spread of bacteria to children, and the earlier the caries-causing bacteria are transmitted to children, the more likely they will become the dominant flora, and the more likely children will suffer from caries.
Second, preschool children (3-6 years old)
In this stage, the child has basically erupted the complete row of milk teeth. Parents should pay attention to help children to quit bad oral habits and treat the caries of milk teeth timely.
1.Cancel the bad oral habits as early as possible
Bad oral habits such as finger sucking, lower lip biting, tongue spitting, etc. may cause maxillary protrusion, narrow dental arch, crowded teeth and other oral and jaw deformities. Therefore, parents should promptly persuade, or go to the hospital as early as possible to help quit bad habits through appropriate orthodontic methods.
2.Discover and prevent the caries of milk teeth in time
Many parents think that milk teeth always have to be replaced, so if they are bad, they need to be treated. This view is wrong.
The dangers of milk tooth caries are many.
(1) Causing children’s toothache, gum, facial swelling, even high fever and other systemic symptoms.
(2) It is likely to affect the development of permanent tooth embryo, and directly affect the eruption form and arrangement structure of permanent teeth.
(3) In severe cases, it may hinder the child’s jaw and facial development.
(4) It will affect the child’s diet and nutritional intake, such as reluctance to eat vegetables containing more fiber and meat that needs to be chewed, resulting in poor eating habits such as partial eating and affecting the normal growth and development of the whole body.
For children with caries tendency, it is recommended to receive dental fluoride application by pediatric dentist in hospital for the decayed part of teeth, which can play the role of caries prevention by releasing fluorine ions slowly through fluorine protective varnish, and it is usually recommended to apply it regularly every 3-6 months.
Third, school-age children (6-12 years old)
The biggest change of school-age children’s mouth is tooth replacement. During this stage, the child’s 20 milk teeth will be gradually replaced by 28 permanent teeth. Tooth replacement is a physiological process, and the normal sequence is that the milk teeth are loosened and lost first, and then the permanent teeth erupt. If the permanent teeth erupt before the milk teeth fall out, the newly erupted permanent teeth often cannot enter the dental row smoothly, resulting in misalignment of permanent teeth.
1.Prevent and control dental trauma
The characteristics of school-age children are that they are active and easily injured. The prevention and treatment of dental trauma is one of the priorities of this period.
Teeth are non-renewable hard tissues, so if gums bleed, teeth crack, break, loosen, or shift after injury, you should go to the hospital immediately. When participating in sports activities and games, playing impact sports such as basketball, soccer or speed sports such as roller skating, wearing sports protective braces can effectively reduce the chance of dental trauma.
2.Prevent sulcus caries
The sulcus point gap on the surface of molar teeth is the high incidence area of caries. “Sixth-aged teeth are the permanent molars with the earliest eruption time, which are also the most prone to caries and even cause premature loss, so it is important to protect the first permanent molars of children. By applying a layer of adhesive resin, the sulcus of the tooth is filled in to make the tooth surface smooth and easy to clean, to protect the enamel from the erosion of bacteria and metabolites, and to enhance the anti-caries ability of the tooth.
Fourth, the adolescent period (12-18 years old)
The teeth of adolescent children have fully erupted, so pay attention to the prevention and control of gingivitis and timely orthodontic treatment for dental irregularities.
1.Prevent and control adolescent gingivitis
Due to changes in sex hormone levels during puberty and plaque buildup, adolescents are more likely to develop gingivitis, which manifests itself as bleeding gums when brushing and biting hard objects, swollen gums, and bad taste in the mouth. The most effective way to prevent gingivitis in adolescents is to properly brush the teeth to remove plaque. After the appearance of gum bleeding and other conditions, we should go to the dental hospital in a timely manner, to clean teeth and other treatment to stop the progress of gingivitis.
2.Orthodontics in time
Children seeking orthodontic treatment for malocclusion, it is recommended that the first visit to the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, oral health assessment and oral health education. During the orthodontic treatment, if the oral health care is not done in parallel, it is easy to develop caries and even lead to orthodontic failure.
Usually around the age of 12, the milk teeth are completely replaced with permanent teeth. If there are teeth misalignment and other occlusal deformities, orthodontic treatment can be carried out during this period, which is easy to achieve good treatment results.
Children seeking orthodontic treatment should first visit a pediatric dentist. This is because during the process of orthodontic treatment, special attention should be paid to oral health care to avoid the situation of having orthodontic teeth alignment but having a mouth full of caries. Children undergoing orthodontic treatment should brush their teeth after every meal to remove plaque and retained food debris, and it is recommended to choose orthodontic toothbrushes and interdental brushes to clean their teeth.