Dubai: It’s back to school season and an investment in your child’s oral health is one that will pay lifelong dividends. To help your children develop the right mindsets when it comes to oral care, teach them to brush their teeth twice daily with fluoride-rich toothpaste. Brushing teeth in the morning is important because our mouths are naturally acidic after waking up. Toothpaste neutralises the PH levels of our mouth and protects our teeth from acidic substances. Nighttime brushing is equally important for the same reason you know to be true, protecting our teeth from cavities and decay by cleaning any food residue left in our mouth after dinner or a late-night snack.
In addition to brushing our teeth, teaching our children to floss daily at a young age helps reinforce a habit. You can start flossing for your child at age four; most children will be able to do it on their own by age eight. Flossing helps remove plaque between teeth and under the gum-line, before it hardens into tartar. Brushing our teeth just isn’t enough to get to those hard-to-reach places and sustain proper oral health. Once tartar has been formed, it can only be removed by professional cleaning.
It is crucial to accustom your child to regular visits to their dentist. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends that a child go to the dentist by age one, or within six months after the first tooth erupts. Primary teeth typically begin growing at around six months of age.
Ensure that children’s diet limits starchy and/or sugary foods, which produce plaque acids, eventually leading to tooth decay. When they choose to consume any of these foods, it is best to include them as part of a meal, rather than an isolated snack. When consumed as part of a meal, the saliva produced helps rinse out the teeth and doesn’t allow the sugary/starchy foods to stick in your child’s mouth.
Make sure your child is drinking water that is fluoridated. Fluoride, a substance found natural in water, plays an important role in healthy tooth development and cavity prevention. Fluoride combats tooth-decay in two ways; it is incorporated into the structure of developing teeth when ingested, and it shields teeth as soon as it comes in contact with them. Fluoride prevents the acid produced by bacteria in plaque from dissolving your child’s tooth enamel, and allows your child’s teeth that are damaged by acid to repair.
-The writer is a general dentist (Paediatrics) at American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery Hospital
