Question 1

Why is treatment of temporary teeth required?

Accepted Answer

Milk teeth, though temporary, are retained in child’s mouth till 12 years of age. Decay of milk teeth not only hampers the child’s oral health but also compromises the general health and quality of life.
How?
Child can suffer from symptoms like pain, swelling, infection, bad breath, redness of gums, bleeding gums etc.
Inability to chew food properly can lead to undernutrition and poor weight gain. Spread of oral bacteria can lead to repeated cold, cough and fever.
Child may feel unpleasant about the poor looks of his/her teeth and can even become low in confidence.
The permanent teeth of the child are affected due to direct transfer of cavities from milk teeth as well as spread of infection from milk teeth to developing permanent tooth buds.
Treatment of milk teeth is hence indicated to relieve the symptoms as well maintain the oral and general health harmony of the child.

Question 2

Is the dental treatment going to be painful for my child?

Accepted Answer

No! Most of the dental treatment like Fluoride, Filling, Cleaning, Sealant, Crowns are painless. Some of the other treatments like Pulp therapy and Extraction are made painless by application of Local Anesthesia. Yours and your child's positive attitude and comfort level also helps to make the dental treatment a painless experience.

Question 3

Which toothpaste should I use for my baby/child?

Accepted Answer

Always use a Fluoride Toothpaste as fluoride makes teeth stronger and gives protection from cavities. Fluoride is very much safe if used in correct quantity according to your child's age.
Up to 3 years: rice grain size toothpaste with 500 ppm fluoride
3 to 6 years: pea size toothpaste with 500 ppm fluoride
Above 6 years: adult toothpaste with 1000 ppm fluoride

Question 4

Why are cavities so common in children?

Accepted Answer

Cavities are caused by multiple factors like inadequate oral hygiene, frequent sweet intake habits, weak nature of teeth and also tendency for cavities in parents or combination of all these.  Milk teeth of a baby or toddler are delicate and are more prone for decay if they are not kept clean and the incorrect feeding habits like prolonged mother's feeding or bottle feeding continue beyond 1 to 1.5 years of age. Also, cavities are common because of increase in soft and processed food our children tend to eat in recent times.

Question 5

How should I stop decay in my child's teeth?

Accepted Answer

As dental decay is caused due to various factors like hygiene, diet, weak teeth etc, prevention of decay includes care on all these aspects.
5 top tips for prevention of dental decay in your child:
1. Brush at night before going to bed. Rinse after every feed
2. Do not give sticky sweets like chocolates, biscuits, jam, jelly, ice cream, cake, pastry, mithai, candy, lollipop and also milk with sugar to your child at a high frequency.
3. Take your child for a regular dental check up every 6 months.
4. Get dental treatment done if there are already some cavities in your child.
 
5. Maintain your own oral hygiene and health also to control tendency for cavities in parents and children.

Question 6

Will the cavities of milk teeth affect my child's permanent teeth?

Accepted Answer

YES!
Health of permanent teeth is directly dependent on health of milk teeth.
How?
Permanent teeth start erupting at 6 years of age while milk teeth are retained till 12 years. This period between 6 to 12 years is "mixed dentition" period in which cavities of milk teeth can directly spread to permanent teeth as they are caused by bacteria.   
Infection of milk teeth can cause a defect in the permanent tooth bud which is developing beneath them.
 
Milk teeth also maintain space for permanent teeth. Permanent teeth can become misaligned if milk teeth are lost early due to decay.

Question 7

How should I stop my child from eating sweets?

Accepted Answer

Frequency of sweet intake is of more concern than quantity. A habit of frequent sweet snacking especially sticky ones like chocolates and biscuits should be stopped. Parents need to make their children understand about the harmful effects of sweet snacking in a child friendly way. Following are the examples to communicate with your child.
1.  If we eat chocolates and biscuits, they will get stuck on our teeth and germs will come to eat them up because germs also like those sweets just like you. These germs are going to make big cavities in our teeth. Do we want germs and cavities in our teeth? No!
2. If you don’t eat sweets from Monday to Saturday, we can have a sweet treat on Sunday when we can have unlimited sweets but only at one time!

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