3 Things You Do That Causes Problems For Your Child's Teeth

Everyone knows that you have to take care of your permanent teeth. However, some make the mistake of thinking that, just because you lose your baby teeth at some point, you can forsake taking care of them. This isn't true. No matter how old your child is, as long as they have teeth, they need to be taken care of. Here are three things you do that causes problems for your child's teeth:

1. Letting them go to sleep with a bottle at night.

Letting their child have a bottle when they go to bed is something that mothers have been doing for so many years. After all, the warm milk soothes them to sleep and, if they wake up in the middle of the night, they have an instant soother and don't need to wake mom up. However, this is detrimental to your child's teeth.

Allowing your child to go to sleep with a bottle at night can lead to what is called "baby bottle tooth decay." This tooth decay occurs because of the sugars in the milk or formula being left on your child's teeth at night. As the sugar remains on the teeth, bacteria then helps create acids that eat away at your child's teeth. 

This tooth decay can lead to many problems for your child. It can be extremely painful and cause them to have many of their teeth pulled way too soon. When that happens, it can affect the way your child eats, speaks, and cause issues for their adult teeth when they finally come in.

2. Giving your child soda all the time.

Since one of the main ingredients in soda is high fructose corn syrup, drinking them all the time can lead to tooth decay. If you give your child a soda every time they ask for something to drink, you're ensuring they have sugar on their teeth more than they should.

Of course, there is no one saying you can't give your child soda. Life is for living, after all. But, you should take steps to try to safeguard your child's teeth.

For instance, make sure that they aren't drinking it all day. Once you consume a sugary substance, it takes your saliva around 15-30 minutes to counteract the acid that normally leads to tooth decay. As you can imagine, if your child is always sipping on sugary soft drinks, their saliva will never get the chance to do that important job. So make sure that, if they do drink soda, they drink it in one sitting. 

Another good tip is to have your child rinse their mouth out with water after they drink a soda. Many people think they should brush their teeth after a soda, but that can get to be a bit too much if your child has more than a couple of sodas a day. As long as they rinse their mouth out with water really good after they finish their soda, they should be fine until it is time to brush their teeth before bed.

3. Not taking them to the dentist regularly.

Since your children aren't adults, they are not the ones responsible to make sure they go to the dentist. As their parent, it is up to you to make sure they see their dentist regularly to ensure proper dental health. Yes, it is even important when they just have baby teeth.

Your child needs to have a checkup with their dentist at least every six months. This will help maintain proper dental health and get any cavities treated quickly - hopefully before they can cause more serious tooth decay problems. To learn more, contact a company like Dental Associates PC with any questions you have.

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