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Dental Care Of Infants And Toddlers - Parents Play A Significant Role |
Parents of an infant or a toddler are responsible if he/she lags in speech development and has green discoloration on front teeth or has brown rubbery incisors.
Some parents are so busy elsewhere that they somehow do not devote adequate attention to their children as much as they should. Further to this, they are not even aware of an infant’s oral hygiene.
They think that infants do not have any teeth so the concept of oral hygiene does not exist for them. Not only such people are ignorant, but they even do not realize that it may jeopardize the development of their children.
They have a habit of putting the milk filled bottle in their child’s mouth in an effort to keep it quiet. This habit even results in the extension of the milk bottle weaning date to more than two years after birth of their child in the case of some parents. Generally, the milk bottle weaning date need not extend much beyond one year.
Incisors are the first teeth to begin to sprout in infants. This happens usually eight months after birth. Milk-bottle addicted infants, who are still not weaned after a considerable period has elapsed after a year, are then faced with the above cited symptoms and development issues.
Continuous environment of sugar in a child’s mouth is a clear invitation to bacterial tooth decay. This must be avoided without fail.
The green discoloration or brown rubbery incisors are clear symptoms of advanced stage of BBTD (baby bottle tooth decay). Such infants or toddlers also suffer from a dull throbbing toothache.
In such cases, a pediatric orthodontist has only two options left at his/her disposal. One option is to recommend the removal of the incisors to prevent further damage to an infant’s/toddler’s gums. This is however advised only in the severe cases. The other option is to advise root canal treatment and crowns in cases in which there has been moderate damage to the infant/toddler’s incisors.
The unnatural removal of these milk teeth has far ranging adverse repercussions on the speech development capabilities of the affected child.
Due to damaged teeth roots, the permanent incisors that then sprout from under them may well develop in an abnormal direction. This may cause stunted speech development in these toddlers. Further, their personality may also be adversely affected. Braces are used in such cases in an effort to straighten the direction.
Parents need to therefore pay proper attention to their child’s oral hygiene, right from its birth.
It is emphatically stressed that parents remember to provide the milk filled bottle only when the child is really hungry. Further, the weaning date for the milk bottle should not extend much beyond one year after the date of birth of the child. Finally, parents must brush their infant’s gums daily to exercise them. Proper hygienic precautions need to be maintained during all activities related to an infant’s or toddler’s oral hygiene.
Parents have a great responsibility towards the healthy growth and development of their children through proper dental care. Healthy teeth and healthy development in infants and toddlers reflect the healthy attitude of their parents. |