Care of Teeth

OK, I know the order of this blog is a bit upside down (I have yet to tell you all about Amber) but I was writing content for the website on how to care for teeth and it occurred to me that I was not following best advise myself in the care of my little girls teeth.  And I have had a few dentist bills as a result! 

Brushing your teeth is something you do every day and it may seem a bit like lecturing to tell someone how to do it.  But the funny thing is when you have babes, you start to question everything.  So some people might snigger if you seek out basic information on teeth care but mums and dads know that they are on one heck of a learning journey and you can never have enough information.

So just a few Best Practice Guidelines you may not have known

• You should gently brush a babes gums as well as their new teeth to remove bacteria build up that can lead to tooth decay
• Milk (first) teeth are important for guiding the growth of permanent (second) teeth.  Missing teeth can result in misalignment of permanent teeth. And expensive orthodontic bills.
• New baby teeth have not fully developed the outer enamel layer to protect then and so are particularly prone to decay
• Because they do not have good co-ordination, children's teeth brushing should be supervised up to the age of 7.  Let then do it themselves but have a quick run around yourself afterwards.
• Introduce good habits early.  Brush twice a day. (it's a job now to get mine into the bathroom in the morning because it was not an established habit.
• Use a age appropriate toothpaste from an early age.  My 3 year old struggles with the taste now.  If I had used it earlier, it may not have been such an issue
• Removal of decayed teeth is the number 1 reason for use of general anesthetic on children in the UK - that is scary
• Diet Diet Diet is vital. No more juice in our house.  It seems obvious but in the face of a needy babe, do we always consider their beautiful teeth?  Use sugar free medicines and look at food labels for sugar/sucrose/dextrose etc.  No Added Sugar does not mean no sugar.

I hope you can learn something from my research and my mistakes.

Happy brushing.