In this article, we are addressing your baby’s oral and dental health. Before asking “How should I care for my baby’s teeth?”, it is essential to understand the importance of baby dental care as the key to healthy teeth.
After dealing with your baby’s fussiness and excessive drooling for a while, you will begin to notice small bumps on their gums. This teething stage signals the eruption of milk teeth. Since your baby’s dental care should begin before their teeth appear, it’s beneficial to recognise these signs early. In the following sections, we will share the steps you need to take.
Why Is Dental Care Important for Babies?
Dental care for babies is a crucial topic. Maintaining healthy milk teeth and caring for them properly prevents potential problems. Milk teeth serve as placeholders for adult teeth.
Healthy, well-maintained milk teeth help the permanent teeth emerge straight and healthy. Additionally, if the milk teeth are not well cared for, problems like speech issues, difficulty chewing, and an inability to smile comfortably may arise. By starting dental care early, it can easily become a habit for your baby, preventing these issues.
Teething in Babies
Babies’ teeth emerge at different times. On average, every 6 months, 4 new little teeth will appear in your baby’s mouth, and girls tend to develop their teeth faster than boys. By the age of 2-3, all milk teeth will have erupted.
The teething process can be quite challenging for babies and requires patience. Since teething can cause physical discomfort, babies often cry and become restless. You can tell that the time for teething has arrived when you notice crying along with the following symptoms:
- Swollen gums
- Excessive drooling
- Fever
You can try several methods to alleviate teething pain:
- Use clean and cool teething rings to soothe the gums. Be sure the teething ring is not too small or fragile.
- Gently rub the gums with a damp cloth.
- Consult your doctor for natural pain relief recommendations. Never administer any medication to your baby without consulting a doctor, as it may lead to serious consequences.
If, despite these measures, your baby continues to cry heavily and the fever persists for a long time, please contact your doctor.
How Should You Care for Baby’s Gums?
As previously mentioned, dental care for babies should begin before milk teeth emerge. This indicates the need to start with gum care. Healthy gums ensure that the eruption of milk teeth occurs with less discomfort. When caring for your baby’s gums, avoid using toothbrushes, toothpaste, or hard materials.
Here are the steps to follow:
- Wash your hands thoroughly with water.
- Take a soft, damp cloth or gauze.
- Gently wipe your baby’s gums with a soft, damp cloth.
- Clean the gums twice a day, ideally after feeding and before bedtime, to prevent bacteria from harming the teeth.
Regularly cleaning your baby’s gums can help prevent harmful bacteria from damaging both the gums and the emerging tooth buds.
How to Brush a Baby’s Teeth?
Brushing should begin once the first milk teeth emerge, and doctors often recommend waiting until at least four teeth have appeared. Before starting to brush, the most important thing to consider is the toothbrush. When buying a toothbrush, ensure it has very soft bristles. The head of the brush should be small, and the handle large, so you can comfortably manoeuvre it in your baby’s mouth without causing harm.
- Before brushing your baby’s teeth, wash your hands thoroughly. Also, soak the toothbrush in lukewarm water for a few minutes to soften the bristles even more, even if the brush is already soft.
- When it comes to toothpaste, follow your doctor’s advice. If you use toothpaste, make sure it’s specially designed for babies. Use a pea-sized amount of toothpaste for babies under 3 years old. Fluoride-containing toothpaste is recommended as it strengthens and protects the teeth against cavities, but only once the baby’s teeth are fully erupted. Always adhere to your doctor’s recommendations when it comes to toothpaste usage.
- Brush your baby’s teeth after they wake up and before bed.
- Pay extra attention to the back molars, as these are often the first to develop cavities due to food buildup.
- Be sure to brush the back surfaces of the teeth, as they are often neglected while brushing, and decay usually starts there.
- Brush for about 2 minutes.
- Change the toothbrush every 3 to 4 months or sooner if it shows signs of wear. Never share your baby’s toothbrush with others.
- Continue brushing your baby’s teeth until they are old enough to hold the toothbrush themselves.
- Once all the milk teeth have emerged, you can begin using dental floss.
- After brushing, avoid offering any food or drink, except for water.
Even with regular and proper brushing, cavities may still develop. So, check for brown spots, tiny pits, or plaque during brushing. If you notice any, take your baby to the dentist.
Even if there are no visible problems, experts recommend taking your baby for their first dental check-up within 6 months after the first tooth appears or by their first birthday. The dentist can provide the best advice on tooth care, teething, fluoride use, diet, and preventing cavities.
Join Your Baby’s Toothbrushing Journey with the Playful “Squirrel the Strong Teeth”
You can make brushing time fun with your baby by turning it into a game. In this game, your partner is “Squirrel the Strong Teeth.”
“Squirrel the Strong Teeth” and the other squirrels have 20-22 teeth and eat hard foods like nuts, acorns, and peanuts, which gradually shorten their teeth. To continue eating and living, their teeth grow constantly. With Squirrel the Strong Teeth, you can turn toothbrushing into a fun experience and join your baby in playtime while they brush!
Play Ideas with “Squirrel the Strong Teeth”
- Squirrel the Strong Teeth can carry 3 peanuts in its mouth! How do you think it does that? Let’s take a look at the peanuts!
- Squirrel the Strong Teeth chews on food to eat. How about we try chewing on some carrots?
- Squirrel the Strong Teeth can jump 10 times its height when it’s full of energy. Would you like to eat something and then brush your teeth to jump high?
- Let’s jump with Squirrel the Strong Teeth on our way to brush our teeth. What do you think?
- How about we play our favourite song while brushing our teeth with Squirrel the Strong Teeth? Let’s keep brushing until the song is over!
How to Prevent Cavities in Babies
Brushing and gum cleaning aren’t enough to fully protect your baby’s teeth from decay. Therefore, even if you are diligent in your dental care routine, cavities may still develop. Pay attention to what you feed your baby. Sugary drinks and fruit juices are major contributors to tooth decay.
Sugary drinks can stick to milk teeth, and bacteria feed on the sugar, producing acid that attacks the teeth, leading to decay. Some mothers may dip soothers in sugar to help their babies sleep, but this should be avoided at all costs. Remember, an infected tooth can lead to much more painful consequences down the line.
Tooth decay can lead to infections and premature tooth loss. Missing teeth can result in crooked teeth, speech problems, poor nutrition, and damaged adult teeth. To prevent these issues, avoid practices like bottle-feeding to sleep and allowing sugary drinks.
The most important thing to remember is that healthy milk teeth are the key to the healthy development of permanent teeth.
