Infancy and early childhood (0-3 years)
It is the period when children’s milk teeth erupt and permanent teeth hard tissues are formed and mineralized, and also the period when good feeding habits are formed. If you do not pay attention to oral health care during this period and form bad feeding habits, it will easily lead to caries of milk teeth (bottle caries), permanent teeth and jawbone dysplasia, etc. Therefore, the oral health care at this stage should attract parents’ sufficient attention.
1.Strengthen infant nutrition and arrange meals reasonably
(1) The best natural food for infants is breast milk, which is more beneficial to oral health compared with milk powder with high sugar content. Research shows that breastfeeding is good for the prevention of caries.
(2) Timely addition of complementary foods (starting from 4 months of age) to develop infants’ chewing ability and stimulate tooth eruption.
(3) Young children should eat reasonably and reduce the intake of sugar. Feed more fruits and vegetables containing fiber to increase the cleaning effect of the dental surface.
2.Help infants and toddlers to improve oral hygiene and form good oral hygiene habits
To help infants and young children to improve oral hygiene, parents should do a morning, two help, three education.
(1) Before the baby’s milk teeth erupt, start to gently scrub the oral tissues and gums with clean gauze wrapped around the finger after nursing and before going to sleep.
(2) Use a small toothbrush with fine bristles to help brush the teeth after the first milk teeth erupt, which can effectively prevent bottle caries.
(3) At the age of 3, teach children to brush their own teeth, and give guidance and supervision to cultivate good oral hygiene.
3.Create good feeding habits and prevent bad oral habits from forming
(1) Insist on regular breastfeeding or bottle feeding to avoid jaw dysplasia caused by infants sucking for a long time.
(2) Form a good feeding posture and rotate breastfeeding around to avoid affecting the infant’s jaw development.
(3) To correct the bad oral habits such as finger sucking, tongue spitting and lip biting in time.
4.Regular oral examination and early prevention of dental caries
(1) After the first milk tooth erupts, arrange the infant’s first dental visit between 6-12 months to find and change any practices provided by parents that may be detrimental to the infant’s oral health.
(2) Conduct oral health checkups every six months thereafter to detect problems at any time and address them promptly.
(3) Early prevention of dental caries and fluoride supplementation: infants and children should be supplemented with fluoride drops in the mouth or added to food and drinking water, starting from 6 months after birth.
Preschool children period
During this period (3-6 years old), the caries rate and the degree of caries of children gradually increase, and they also tend to have gingivitis. Milk teeth start to fall off and permanent teeth erupt, so it is important to observe the replacement of milk and permanent teeth. In this period, children’s awareness of self-care gradually increases, but parents’ education, help and supervision still have a prominent role.
1. Continue to consolidate good oral hygiene habits, emphasizing parental supervision and demonstration
Choose a nylon toothbrush with soft bristles and a small head, and teach children to master effective brushing methods, while parents should do a good job of supervision and demonstration. At this stage, children can start to use a small amount (the size of a soybean) of low-concentration fluoride toothpaste, which is good for caries prevention.
2.Good nutrition and dietary habits
(1) Pay attention to the balanced diet, limit the food with more salt and fat and the food with high viscosity, slow removal and easy acid production.
(2) Eat more foods with appropriate hardness and roughness to increase the self-cleaning effect of the mouth, play the physiological stimulation formed by chewing movement, and enhance the resistance of periodontal and dental body tissues.
3.Pay attention to the replacement of milk and permanent teeth, and protect the newly erupted permanent teeth
(1) When children’s milk teeth start to fall out at the age of 6, parents should pay attention to observe them, and if pain, gum edema, discomfort and other symptoms occur, they should promptly seek medical examination and treatment. In addition, if there is retention of milk teeth (permanent teeth erupted, but milk teeth did not fall out), you should also promptly consult a doctor to avoid misalignment of permanent teeth.
(2) After the permanent teeth erupt, pay attention to the protection to avoid decay and trauma.
4.Prevent tooth decay through sulcus closure and fluoride application
1.At the age of 3-4 years old, the milk molar teeth are completely erupted, you can go to the hospital to achieve the purpose of caries prevention through the sulcus closure of milk molar teeth.
2.The better way to supplement fluoride for children aged 3-6 years old is to use fluoride tablets and also use low concentration fluoride toothpaste.
School-age children period
During this period (6-12 years old), children are in the period when their milk teeth are replaced in turn, and at the same time, they are in the period when their permanent teeth are prone to caries and trauma. In addition, this period is the formation period of children’s oral health concept and behavior, oral health care is particularly important.
1, parents and schools to strengthen oral health education
Through effective oral health education, raise school-age children’s awareness of oral self-care and develop good oral hygiene habits and dietary habits (e.g. correcting bad dietary habits such as liking carbonated drinks and sweets; biting pen sticks, biting lips, unilateral chewing and other bad oral habits).
2.Emphasize the important role of sulcus closure in the prevention of permanent tooth caries
The sulcus gap on the crown of the newly erupted permanent teeth is the site of caries, and the sulcus closure has a very good effect of caries prevention. Generally speaking, the best time to seal the sulcus is within 4 years of the eruption of permanent teeth.
3.Pay attention to the prevention of permanent teeth and maxillofacial trauma
Emphasize the safety measures when playing sports and riding in a car to effectively prevent trauma to permanent teeth and jaws and face.