Dental Care for Infants and Children

It is important to care for your child oral health even before the development of teeth. After each feeding, gently wipe the infant's gums with a damp cloth of gauze. This will help to remove plaque.

Your baby's first visit to Polar Dental will allow your dentist to monitor and evaluate the development of the facial bone and teeth and to identify hidden signs of possible decay.

Your Toronto dentist will also discuss with you tips on how you can best care for your child's developing smile. The first tooth should emerge somewhere between six to twelve months. When this happens, you may gently begin brushing the tooth with an appropriate sized soft bristled brush and a pea sized amount of children's toothpaste. Encourage your children to brush their teeth independently once their have acquired the coordination to do so.

Avoid the Following:

• Too much sugar in diet
• Putting your baby to bed with a bottle containing milk or other sweet liquids. (This will cause the sugar content to pool within the baby's mouth resulting in tooth decay.) If a bottle at bedtime is a must, fill it with water (preferably distilled). 
• Thumb sucking and pacifiers: These can cause abnormalities in the tooth and palate structure which will later require corrective treatment. Most children will out grow thumb sucking by the time permanent teeth grown in. If not, they should be discouraged to protect the alignment of their developing teeth and facial bone structure.

Good Dental Habits for Children:

Encouraging proper and consistent dental habits for children while their young is directly reflected in how they continue to care for their oral health as they grow older. By the age of two, most children can be shown the basic brushing techniques. However, young children should always be supervised while brushing and use only a small dab of toothpaste. Discourage the swallowing of toothpaste.

Some children are likely to resist brushing at first and it can become quite the battle. Below we have listed some techniques that may help you:

• Make brushing fun. Show you child videos or tv shows of their favorite characters brushing such as Barney or Elmo.
• Brush together. Brushing isn't just for kids, if your child sees you brushing he/she will try to copy.
• Get your child involved. Allow them to come with you to pick out their toothpaste or toothbrush.
• Make up a song and incorporate it into teaching more advanced brushing and flossing techniques as new teeth develop.

By promoting good health, you can also help ensure your child's oral health. Provide fruits and vegetable snacks as opposed to sweets high in starches and sugar. Change your child's toothbrush at least 3 to 4 times a year. Ask your Toronto Dentist about available protective plastic coatings that can be applied to permanent molars to dramatically reduce the occurrence of cavities.