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5 Things You Need to Know About Your Child’s Dental Development
We recommend that children come in for their first visit by the age of three unless you have concerns before then. Here are a few more things you should know about your child’s dental development.
1. Tricks to Handle Teething
All of your child’s primary teeth should have grown in by the time they turn 2 or 3 years old. Teething is a difficult time for most infants, and all children deal with it in different ways. Signs that your child is teething include: irritability, refusal to eat and trouble sleeping. Thankfully, there are ways you can help your infant deal with the pain:
- Gently rub a clean finger on their sore gums
- Give them something to chew on
- If your baby is old enough to eat solid food, colder foods could help ease the pain
2. When to Start Brushing
You’ll need to start brushing your child’s teeth as soon as they start coming in. Be sure to brush two times a day with a small amount of fluoride toothpaste. Brush gently so as not to irritate your child’s gums.
3. When to Start Flossing
As soon as your child’s teeth start coming in close together, brushing alone won’t do the trick anymore. This usually happens between the ages of 2 and 6. Use floss that is not too coarse to ensure that you don’t irritate their gums.
4. How to Deal With Thumb-Sucking
Most children (before school age) have a tendency to suck their thumbs as a way of conveying hunger or stress. While this is completely natural, once their teeth start coming in, it may become. a problem. Continued thumb-sucking could shift teeth around, spread germs, and even contribute to the development of a lisp.
5. The Importance of Baby Teeth
Other than using them to eat, baby teeth play an important role in speech development. The premature loss of a baby tooth could cause other teeth to become misaligned and impede the eruption of your child’s adult teeth. So keep an eye out for teeth that fall out too early.
Schedule your child’s first dentist appointment at Panatella Dental.