Child Dental Health

Many parents are unsure of the right time to take their child to see the dentist for the first time.

We believe that the most important steps in your child’s dental health journey happen right at the start of their lives.

The sooner we start to build a relationship with a child, the better – so it may come as a surprise to learn that usually your child’s first appointment with us probably won’t involve any sort of examination.

Instead, while they play and begin to associate us with enjoying themselves, we’ll talk to you about the best way to manage their dental health and give you lots of useful advice about caring for their oral hygiene, often long before their first tooth appears.

In any event, every child should see a dentist by the age of one year old or when that first tooth pops out, whichever comes first. Good dental practices, whether they’re private or part of the NHS, will always see a child, however young.

A good toothbrushing habit is vital. But what does that mean? We recommend brushing twice a day with a standard toothbrush (electric brushes tend to be too large for small children) – ideally last thing at night before bedtime and once in the morning, preferably after breakfast.

Once their teeth come through, you should try to avoid allowing them to fall asleep on the bottle. If your child is already in the habit of doing this, consider a phased approach to progressively diluting their milk with water so that eventually they can brush their teeth and go to sleep with a bottle of water.

You child will probably need your help to brush their teeth until they’re around 7 years old. Show them the correct way to brush and allow them to do it first. Then repeat the brushing yourself to show them how it’s done properly. Creating games that help encourage your child to brush their teeth may also be helpful in building a good habit.

Although it’s very difficult to avoid sugar altogether it’s important to limit the frequency of children’s sugar intake. Constant exposure to drinks or food with high sugar or acid levels increases the risk of tooth decay and acid erosion.

Sweet drinks and food should be given as occasional treats, so resist the temptation to ‘reward’ children who claim not to like water with sugary drinks. Hold your nerve through the tantrums and arguments and you’ll find that eventually they’ll drink what they’re given.

And avoid fizzy drinks, which are all incredibly damaging to young teeth whether they’re sugar free or not.

The most important thing here is to choose a toothpaste with fluoride in it. Use it sparingly on very young children. Children aged 3 and under only need a smear of toothpaste with 1000ppm Fluoride content. After that, a pea size amount with more than 1000ppm Fluoride is fine.

As they get older, encourage them to spit out the excess toothpaste and avoid rinsing, as this washes all the good bits in the toothpaste off our teeth – and this applies to mum and dad, too!

All children react differently to teething. Some can produce a mouthful of teeth and be completely unaffected, others will bring the house down with every single one.  Teething can therefore be unbelievably stressful for both parents and kids, but the important thing is to try to keep them calm and pain free.

Medication such as Calpol and Nurofen (where appropriate) is very helpful, as is topical anaesthetic gels at the recommended doses, and there are also other alternative homeopathic remedies that some parents find helpful.

Excessive saliva production and drooling is common during teething, and this can result in sores around the mouth if it is not kept clean, especially on their chin where the saliva can dribble and irritate, so it’s important to keep the mouth and chin clean.

Some children develop other symptoms, such as an upset tummy, temperature or inflamed cheeks. Monitor these and always consult your GP if you’re concerned.

Dental trauma in kids is extremely common but we have very good protocols in place to help manage it. In the event of trauma, it’s natural for there to be a lot of blood to begin with, which is scary for everyone, but the mouth does tend to heal very quickly.

It’s very important to check to see if anything has chipped, moved or even if the tooth has been knocked out. If there is a chip, try to locate the piece of tooth as often it can end up in the child’s lip. If the tooth has been knocked out, try to find it (touch only the white part of it) and get to a dentist as soon as possible. You should also see a dentist as soon as possible if the tooth has moved.

I am a Trustee with the charity, Dental Wellness Trust, helping to oversea the roll-out of supervised toothbrushing programmes in the South-East of England.

If you would like to know more about how your nursery or school can sign up, please contact me.