Why Baby Teeth Are Important
At Ponte Vedra Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics we want to be your dentistry of choice. We do this by offering the best in dental care and support for your children. One aspect of pediatric dentistry not to overlook is the importance of your child’s baby teeth. Despite not being permanent, your child’s baby teeth play a vital role in their long-term dental health. Here are several reasons why baby teeth are so important and how they impact dental health in the short and long term.
The Importance of Baby Teeth
At the age of six, your child will start losing their baby teeth as permanent teeth grow in. Before that, regular care of baby teeth is important. We offer dental care for your child to ensure their mouth remains healthy. Here are some of the ways your child’s baby teeth impact dental health.
- Future Tooth Placement: baby teeth serve as a placeholder for permanent teeth. As permanent teeth grow in they push out baby teeth and take their place. However, if your child loses their baby teeth too early the permanent teeth won’t have a preset placeholder for growth. This results in crooked or crowded teeth requiring a pediatric dentist to correct them. Taking care of your child’s teeth can help prevent issues like this from occurring.
- Protect Future Teeth: another issue is that tooth decay and other health concerns that affect baby teeth can transfer to permanent teeth as they grow. Collected bacteria and other health issues can damage permanent teeth and by keeping your child’s baby teeth healthy you ensure that their permanent teeth grow into a healthy environment.
- Speech Issues: baby teeth are also part of your child’s speech development. Damage to baby teeth can make words hard to pronounce which can lead to speech issues and further issues with self-confidence can cause this issue to become worse. Once speech patterns have been altered they can be hard to fix once permanent teeth grow.
- Develop Good Habits: another advantage of proper care of baby teeth is it teaches your child good dental habits early in life. By knowing how to care for their teeth and being in the habit of doing so you teach your child proper dental care habits they will use well beyond childhood and long after their permanent teeth have grown in.
Supporting Your Child’s Dental Health
As a parent, you have your child’s best interests in mind. Health is often a key concern for most parents and that includes your child’s teeth. Ways to keep your child’s teeth healthy include the following steps. Be sure to brush and floss twice daily to remove debris and keep your child’s mouth clean. Once your child gets older, get them in the habit of brushing their teeth regularly. Regular trips to our office can detect any dental issues and provide the proper care to correct them before these problems become more severe. Finally, a healthy diet that limits processed sugar and is rich in whole foods can help protect your child’s teeth from unneeded problems such as cavities.
When You Dental Care For Your Child
At Ponte Vedra Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics we offer full-service dental care for your child. We offer services such as cleaning, checkups, and more advanced dental care such as childhood tooth extraction and braces and teeth extraction. We understand that visiting the dentist can be scary for a child. That’s why we offer a comfortable and supportive environment to put your child at ease. Good dental care starts early in life when kids have their baby teeth. We are attentive to your child’s teeth so you can ensure they are in good dental health from childhood to adulthood. When you need a dentist Ponte Vedra contact us today to see how we can help or to schedule your appointment.