Children

Taking care of your child’s teeth

Your baby’s teeth are developing from around the second month of pregnancy with the first tooth appearing when your baby is around 6 months old. Every child is different – some babies even have a tooth at birth. Teething pain can be treated with children’s painkillers and your doctor, pharmacist or dentist will be able to offer advice on this.

How many teeth will my baby have?

There are 20 ‘baby’ teeth and they come into the mouth over 2 ½ years. They are very important, as they are guides for the positioning of the second teeth. They need to be looked after well as some of them will be in the mouth for 10 years.

Cleaning

As soon as your baby has a tooth then home care should commence. A child’s toothbrush and child’s toothpaste should be used. A child’s brush has a much smaller head than an adult brush and the toothpaste has a lower level of fluoride. Up until the age of seven you will need to supervise the cleaning of your child’s teeth. Try to make tooth brushing fun by using a disclosing solution each week. Disclosing solution contains a harmless vegetable dye and when used in the mouth it stains plaque. This means after brushing, you can see if any plaque has been missed. Diet is probably the most important factor in tooth decay. That’s why the right diet is a key part in preventative dental care. It is particularly important to keep carbonated and sugar containing snacks to a minimum. If in any doubt, analyse your child’s diet over several days including weekends. Your Dentist or Hygienist can point out the, sometimes hidden, sugar content in popular foods and can suggest tooth friendly alternatives.

Orthodontics

Generally around 30% of children will need some form of orthodontic treatment and this is usually carried out between the ages of 11 – 13 years. At each examination we will assess your child’s growth to help identify any potential crowding problems.

Protecting their smile

If your child plays any form of sport, one of the most important things to consider is the protection of their smile. At CCDC we have a range of mouth guards to suit every requirement – from double thickness models for added protection during rugby and other contact sports to multi - coloured mouth guards. You can even choose have the colours of their favourite sports team – the possibilities are endless! Each mouth guard comes with it’s own personalized case for easy identification in the changing room.