Are Baby Teeth Important?

Are baby teeth Important? What if your child gets cavities in their baby teeth? Is it really necessary to get them treated if they are not having any toothache? Surely the baby teeth will fall out after a while anyway?

Though you lose them early in life, your primary teeth, also called baby teeth or milk teeth, are essential in the development and placement of your permanent teeth. They also help in speech development. The permanent teeth develop close to the roots of the primary teeth. 

Untreated infection in baby teeth can affect the normal development of the permanent tooth. Primary teeth also maintain the spaces where permanent teeth will erupt. If baby teeth are lost too early other teeth may tilt into or take up the vacant space, forcing permanent teeth to come in crooked. 

Although baby teeth start to fall out around 6 years old, some will remain until 12 years or even later. By taking your child for regular check-ups any problems with the baby teeth can be seen early and treated or prevented from progressing. This way more complex treatment, which may be more expensive and require more cooperation from the child, can be avoided. If your child is taught to look after their baby teeth, they are much less likely to have problems once their permanent teeth come through. 

Which foods cause tooth decay?

Your child's diet is one of the most important factors in developing dental decay and small changes can make a big difference. 

In the previous blog post we looked at how foods containing sugar combine with bacteria in plaque to produce acid. If the teeth are subjected to frequent or long periods of acid attack, decay becomes likely to occur.

Most people are aware that children who eat too many sweets and candies are likely to get cavities. However, any foods that are are high in refined carbohydrates (starch), such as crackers and chips, can cause decay if the foods remain stuck to the teeth for long periods of time, as the starch breaks down into sugar. In fact, one good way to determine if a snack is good for a child is to check their teeth 20 minutes after consumption. If the teeth are still filled with food, the risk for dental decay will be higher. These foods should be eaten only rarely and teeth should be brushed afterwards.

There are a lot of "hidden sugars" in processed food. If you read the ingredients, they may be labelled as sucrose, glucose, lactose, or fructose - these are all types of sugar. In addition to containing high levels of sugar, many children's breakfast cereals also stick onto the teeth. Even diet soda drinks and concentrated fruit juices can cause decay as they are acidic.

It is not realistic to ban your child from eating sweets. altogether. Instead, limit consumption of sweets and candy to maximum of once a day, preferably at the end of a meal. Those treats that dissolve and clear from the mouth quickly eg. a milk chocolate bar, are better than hard candies, lollipops or sticky caramels. Sweets should be eaten in one go, rather than continually snacking on them.

Children do get hungry and need to snack. Choose healthy snacks such as fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, cheese. For drinks in between meals go for water or milk without added sugar.

What causes dental cavities?

When you consume any food or drink containing carbohydrate, or sugar, the bacteria in the plaque on your teeth metabolise it, producing an acid attack which lasts for at least 20 minutes. The acid dissolves the outer surface layer of the teeth (enamel).

The acid attack will be much longer if the food remains stuck onto the teeth, or if snacking continues over a period of time, eg. eating a bag of sweets one by one, or continuously licking a lollipop. Also, If babies or toddlers fall asleep with a bottle, or whilst nursing, the milk will remain on their teeth for a longer period of time.

If food and drinks containing sugar are limited to mealtimes, with sugar free snacks and drinks in between, the teeth can recover from these short periods of acid attacks. In the early stages of decay (before a cavity is formed), the enamel can repair itself by taking in minerals from saliva. Fluoride also helps to strengthen the enamel in this process.

However, with frequent snacks and drinks containing sugar, cavities become much more likely to occur.

Once the enamel layer crumbles, a cavity is formed, bacteria enter and the decay process spreads rapidly.

To prevent dental decay, the aim should be to reduce the amount of time that any food containing sugar is present in the mouth. Drinking water or rinsing after eating can help. Try to make snacks and drinks, between meals, sugar free as far as possible. 

 

Regular, thorough brushing to remove plaque build-up from the teeth will also help but, as it is not possible to prevent plaque from building up again after brushing, diet is of extreme importance in preventing cavities.