Children

Children -From Birth 6 to 12 years of age

1. Ugly duckling stage 
Your child is in the stage of losing milk teeth & gaining permanent teeth & most often will look a little funny due to seemingly crooked teeth or gaps.  Once all the permanent teeth have erupted things usually fall into place resulting in a beautiful & neat arrangement. In cases of a family history of crooked teeth (mother, father ,sister or brother) it would be wise to schedule regular visits to a dentist during this period. In some cases if your dentist extracts certain milk teeth it will help the permanent teeth to come out more regularly instead of ending up crooked. In some cases braces may be recommended to help 'straighten out' the crooked teeth.

2. Cleaning 
Please note that while you can afford to lose your milk teeth your permanent teeth have to serve you for a very long time. Brushing after any meal or snack especially before going to bed is important to keep your mouth free of problems. Your dentist may even recommend a fluoride mouth rinse or toothpaste to help protect your teeth if the are you are staying in does not have enough fluoride content in the drinking water. But please remember that too much of fluoride is dangerous too.

Brushing
An easy method is to take a pea sized portion of toothpaste. the paste is squeezed INTO the bristles of the brush. this ensures that every bit is used instead of a portion falling into the mouth or washbasin. It prevents accidental swallowing of a small portion too. The brush is gently moved in a circular motion over the teeth on the outside surfaces & a to & fro motion on the top & inside areas. You can request a demonstration from your dentist.

If your child's teeth are not kept clean a  professional cleaning  is required.

3.Pit & Fissure Sealants

Smooth shiny surfaces don't get dirt easily. This is why it is very rare that one sees tooth decay on the outer or inner surfaces of a tooth. If the surface pits & fissures or grooves of a freshly erupted tooth are cleaned gently with polishing paste & sealed with special sealers two things are accomplished: 1) the pits & grooves can no longer trap food particles & 2) the weakest portions of the tooth (pits & fissures are areas with very little or NO enamel!) have been protected.

This treatment helps prevent tooth decay.

4. Fillings & Root canal treatment. 

If your child has a badly decayed milk tooth & the permanent tooth is ready to erupt then an extraction may be the solution. If not in most instances the milk teeth are preserved to make sure that the permanent teeth erupt in proper sequence. Based on the amount of decay a filling or root canal treatment may be chosen.

The worst situation is one in which recently erupted PERMANENT TEETH have undergone decay. As the tooth is young and not yet 'mature' the size of the pulp is big & the roots are not completely formed. this makes both fillings & root canal treatment a little bit more complicated than usual & it must be remembered that once ORIGINALITY has been lost no substitute is as good. So try your best to safeguard your teeth.

5. Extractions

Milk teeth may be extracted if the permanent teeth are due to erupt but in general the GOLDEN RULE is NEVER EXTRACT. Losing a tooth is bad for the child's mental & physical health & may affect the way the child appears as the child grows due to shifting of teeth into the space left by the extracted tooth if a replacement is not placed within a month or two.

FIXED dentures are generally not advisable for children till they are approximately 21 years old so that the pulp chambers and roots are fully developed. A removable partial (replacing only the missing teeth) denture is the simplest choice.

6. Broken teeth / Knocked out teeth.

As children grow up the chances of them chipping , breaking or even knocking out teeth accidentally becomes more.

If the breakage is minimal sometimes the broken piece can be fixed back. If not your dentist can build your tooth back to its original shape using hard tooth colored materials called composites. If the amount of breakage is more the tooth may have to be restored with a crown after root canal treatment.

If a tooth has fallen out due to a bad fall gently pick up the tooth & rinse off the dirt. Do NOT rub & clean vigorously. Either try gently reinserting the tooth into its socket or hold it in your mouth so that it is kept warm & wet by your own saliva. The other option is to carry it to your dentist in a small container full of milk. Rush to the closest dentist for further management.

 

 

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