A child’s sugary drinks can be just as dangerous for their dental health as any candy or chocolate.
One of the most essential and beloved parts of parenthood is making sure your kids are happy and healthy, from infancy until they’re ready to strike out independently. You teach them their letters and numbers to help them prepare for their first day of school. You wake up early every day to make their lunch before they’re even out of bed. And you keep a close eye on their development, especially during critical times like toddlerhood. This includes looking after their changing smiles.
Many parents typically think that this means focusing solely on teaching their toddler dental hygiene. While brushing and flossing are important, they’re not the only factor in your smile’s health. Your child’s eating habits can often be a deciding factor between whether their smile stays whole or becomes riddled with tooth decay and cavities. We don’t just mean keeping their hands out of the cookie jar. What your kid drinks, particularly sodas and fruit juices, can be even more damaging for their teeth than the occasional chocolate bar if left unchecked.
Sugar and Tooth Decay
What is it about colas and juices that are so bad for a kid’s developing smile? They’re packed with sugar. While sugar doesn’t cause plaque as some people might think, it does attract oral bacteria that can produce a thick film of it over your toddler’s baby teeth. The acids in plaque help break down your enamel to try reaching the softer tissues below.
It’s not uncommon for parents to brush off this danger because their children’s teeth haven’t been worn down by years and decades of life. While baby teeth may be thought of as brand new, they’re still vulnerable to tooth decay if dental plaque is allowed to collect on the enamel. You can’t always brush your child’s teeth every time they take a sip of Sprite or a Capri-Sun. However, we recommend encouraging them to drink water after to rinse off some of the plaque.
How Common Are Cavities In Baby teeth?
Tooth decay is one of the most common childhood diseases. Baby teeth aren’t as adept at fighting off oral bacteria and plaque as adult ones. And since children are still learning how to take care of their teeth properly, this combination can be a killer on their smiles. It doesn’t take long for the sugar in their sodas and juices to break through the enamel.
It’s estimated that nearly 28% of all children ages 2 to 5 years old have had at least one cavity in their lifetime. This number doesn’t go down as they grow older and more mature. More than half of all children 6 to 11 years old have had one, and that’s not counting the number of children with early-stage tooth decay.
What Does A Cavity Look Like?
When tooth decay first starts working away at your toddler’s baby teeth, it steals the crucial minerals keeping the teeth protected from bacteria. This demineralization shows itself with white spots on the teeth. These spots will gradually darken as the decay works its way through the tooth. Once a cavity forms, it will be readily apparent as a physical hole in the tooth.
Cavities aren’t just seen, but they can be felt as well. When the central dental pulp layer is breached, it can be incredibly painful. A tooth’s pulp contains the blood vessels and nerves keeping it alive and healthy. Here are some common symptoms to look out for with cavities:
Toothache that can be constant or come and go
Sensitivity to hot and cold foods
Lingering sensitivity to sweets
Is It Necessary To Fill Cavities In Baby Teeth?
Many parents feel like they can get around this permanent problem by being patient with their child’s baby teeth. They will eventually be replaced once their permanent teeth erupt, so even a completely rotted tooth isn’t forever. It’s perfectly fine to leave the decay alone until the problem fixes itself.
This can be disastrous for the future of your child’s smile. When a cavity kills a tooth, the bacteria don’t disappear. It can instead spread into the surrounding gums and even affect the adult tooth waiting in the wings. At its worst, a kid’s permanent tooth may need to be pulled before it even has a chance to come in.
Depending on the severity of your toddler’s cavities, our pediatric dentist team may need to perform one of the following treatments to restore the tooth to normal. This process involves removing the infected parts of the tooth before filling the hole and repairing the original shape and bite.
Tooth Filling
Dental fillings are needed as soon as decay eats the enamel away and breaks through to the softer layers below. It is typically used for smaller cavities, taking out the tooth’s damaged area and replacing the lost tissue with composite resin. Composite can be made to look as natural as the rest of your toddler’s tooth.
Dental Crown
Sometimes a dental filling isn’t enough to cover the extent of a cavity. If a significant portion of the enamel has been destroyed, a dental crown is used to cap the entire tooth and recreate it in feel and bite. While porcelain crowns are popular for restoring the tooth’s look, metal crowns are more durable. They’re also more affordable, which is helpful for teeth that will eventually fall out.
Root Canal
Root canals become necessary once the cavity reaches the tooth’s pulp. At this point, dental decay may have destroyed an entire root or two and potentially caused a tooth abscess at its base. A root canal can clear out all of the infection, drain the abscess, and reinforce the tooth with either a filling or crown.
When Should A Dentist Pull Baby Teeth?
Although tooth extraction is always a last resort, there are some times when even a root canal can’t save it. When enough of the pulp has been destroyed, your tooth pain may suddenly disappear without working nerves to warn you of the danger. This is a blaring alarm that the tooth’s life is at stake. Without immediate care, the tooth can die, and there will be no choice but to have it removed.
How Can You Prevent Cavities?
The most crucial part of dentistry isn’t treating problems when they arrive. It’s about making sure they never appear in the first. Here are some things you can do to help your toddler better fight off dental caries.
Switch To A Better Alternative
The first thing you should do is start cutting down how many sodas and juices your child drinks. You don’t have to cut them off cold turkey—a sweet or bubbly drink won’t hurt as an occasional treat with a meal. However, you should start giving your child better alternatives that have much less sugar. Milk and water are great choices. Milk is high in bone-strengthening calcium that can keep your teeth strong. And not only does water not have any sugar, but it can help rinse away quite a bit of plaque collecting on the teeth.
The best drink alternative possible is fluoridated water. Fluoride helps remineralize teeth, and it can even help reverse first-stage tooth day. The community tap water is fluoridated here in Bellflower to help the city’s people maintain their dental health and natural smiles. However, our kids dentist team understands that not everyone wants to grab a glass of water straight from the tap. Along with bottled fluoride water, fluoride mouthwashes and toothpastes can work even more effectively.
Regular Visits To The Dentist
One of the biggest mistakes first-time parents make is waiting too long to have their child see a pediatric dentist. Too often, we’ve seen children who don’t visit until they’re four or five years old, and when they do, it’s because of a terrible, tantrum-worthy toothache. We want to avoid this at all costs. Instead, starting early and staying consistent in your child’s dental checkups is key to their smile’s health.
What age should a child go to the dentist for the first time? Children should start visiting their dentist either by their first birthday or within six months of their first tooth coming in—whichever comes first. From there, you should make sure to have them come in for a dental cleaning and exam twice a year to keep their teeth squeaky clean.
Excellent Dental Hygiene Routine
Nothing is better for a toddler’s smile than great dental hygiene habits. Missing even a day of brushing and flossing can affect kids’ teeth and gums as plaque can build up quickly. Your toddler can begin brushing their teeth on their own around two years old, but you should always make sure you watch their technique. Be prepared to step in when necessary. We recommend giving them a second brushing and flossing after they’re done to be thorough.
