If you don’t take care of your teeth when you are young, you will suffer when you are old; if you want to have a good mouthful of teeth, the key lies in the prevention and treatment of dental caries when you are a child; if you do a good job in preventing and treating dental caries, you should do the following four things: brushing, sealing the grooves of the cavity, filling the caries early, and having regular checkups. 1, serious and correct brushing This is to maintain oral hygiene clean and healthy effective and simple measures, twice a day morning and evening brushing, each brush enough 3 minutes. Children’s brushing habits are greatly influenced by their parents, who must set an example in this regard. How old should children start brushing their teeth? After the first tooth erupts, use a small toothbrush with fine bristles to help brush. Generally speaking, young children should start learning to brush their teeth from the age of 3, twice a day in the morning and twice in the evening, for 3 minutes each time. Children’s brushing habits are greatly influenced by their parents, who must set an example in this regard. Should I floss my child’s teeth if they have large gaps? You need to remove any food residue from between the teeth. If the gap is caused by a cavity, it should be filled. The correct way to floss your teeth is mainly said to be toothpicks and dental floss. Toothpicks are small tools used to remove food debris embedded in the spaces between teeth as a form of teeth cleaning. There are various types of toothpicks, with wooden toothpicks being the most commonly used. Its cross-section should be flat round or triangular wedge, smooth tip without burrs, hard and not easy to break in order to reduce the damage when picking teeth. Note when using toothpicks: (1) the toothpick head should be directed toward the teeth of the jaw direction, against the teeth of the buccal surface, at a 45-degree angle to glide to the gap in the teeth, picking along the gap between the upper teeth to the lower side of the pick, the lower teeth up the outer side of the pick, such as in the case of fibrous food embedded can also be used for the buccal and lingual side of the piercing action to remove. (2) The pressure when using toothpicks should not be too great, so as not to cause gingival damage. The tip of the toothpick should not be inserted vertically into the gap between the teeth, so as not to injure the soft tissue and cause local infection. After a long time, it will also cause the atrophy of interdental gingival tissues and increase the gap between the teeth and aggravate food impaction. Toothpick on adult dirt removal rate of about 50% or so, not as good as the use of dental floss. 2, fossa closed “one point of prevention is better than ten points of treatment”. The second point in the four caries prevention and treatment is fissure sealing, what is fissure sealing? The surface of big teeth biting things is not smooth, there are a lot of concave grooves, called fossa. The grooves of the teeth are of different shapes and depths and are suitable places for bacteria to grow and multiply. A child’s new permanent teeth, which have not been worn down, have deeper grooves. Pathogenic bacteria and food debris in the mouth are trapped in the grooves and are difficult to remove even with brushing. Bacteria grow deep in the grooves and produce acids during metabolism, corroding the teeth and forming cavities. Coupled with the fact that it is difficult for small children to clean their mouths effectively, the incidence of dental caries in children is very high. Fissure sealing is in the teeth fossa coated with a layer of adhesion, mobility is very good resin penetrate into the fossa and closed fossa, the formation of a layer of “protective wall”, can make the fossa and the oral environment isolation, to prevent bacteria, food residues and its acidic products, etc. to enter the fossa, greatly reducing the chances of caries, this method is the fissure sealing. At the same time, because the sealant contains fluorine, can achieve double caries prevention effect. Effect: Fossa sealing is very effective in preventing caries in the fossa of molar teeth and permanent molars, and it is the most effective and economical method so far. A large number of scholars at home and abroad have shown that fissure sealing can reduce the occurrence of caries by more than 50%. There was a 20-year clinical study abroad, which found that the caries rate was reduced by 83% within one year and 58% within five years in the group that had done fissure sealing compared with the group that had not done fissure sealing. When is the best time to do fissure sealing? Children around 6 years old, the first permanent molar (six-year-old teeth) erupted, it is the earliest permanent teeth erupted in the oral cavity, but also to play the function of chewing, affect the alignment of the teeth, affect the development of the jaw and face of the extremely important four teeth (upper, lower, left, right each 1), must be done to close the fossa to focus on the protection. Children aged 11~13 years old, bicuspid teeth, the second permanent molar teeth have just erupted, do the fossa sealing effect is best. If possible, children aged 3 to 4 years old should have their deciduous molars closed. The milk molar teeth erupt around 3 years old and are not replaced until around 11~12 years old, they stay in the mouth for a long time, have an important role, and should have their sockets closed. The process of fossa sealing is painless and non-invasive, and only takes ten minutes before and after. 3, caries early filling Before children change teeth, tooth decay to deal with, will affect permanent teeth? Here is the third point in the four things we have to say about caries prevention and control – early filling of caries. Many children don’t get their teeth filled right after they have decayed, causing many serious problems. Educate students and their parents about the importance of early filling: it’s easy, economical, and most fillings are done in a single visit. However, treatment is complicated when caries progresses to pulpitis (with pain), which takes several times longer and costs several times more. Cavities must be cleaned. Severe caries and premature loss of milk teeth will affect the chewing function and nutrient absorption; the jawbone is not physiologically stimulated and is underdeveloped, resulting in crowding of permanent teeth in the future. Early loss of milk caries not only stimulates the early eruption of permanent teeth, resulting in misalignment; and the weak mineralization base of the teeth is an important reason for the high incidence of permanent caries and early loss of permanent caries teeth in the future. Will the irregular growth of milk teeth affect the permanent teeth? We have to pay attention to some bad habits of children. For example, they like to add their lips, bite pencils, bite their fingers, sleep with their mouths open to breathe and so on. These habits can lead to misalignment of milk and permanent teeth. Can I lick my teeth when they change? It is not recommended to lick because the power of the tongue is difficult to control, which will make the teeth grow more irregularly. 4. Regular checkups The last point Prof. Yeh told me is regular checkups, please explain it to us. Most students and parents tend to go to the hospital only when they have a toothache, which complicates treatment. Since there are no symptoms in the early stages of dental caries, it is easy to overlook them, so regular checkups and early detection are very important. We propose that primary and secondary school students should have an oral examination at least once a year, so that early detection leads to early treatment.