Friday 06 / June / 2025
Many parents assume that cavities in baby teeth don't matter, because they'll be lost anyway. But that's not true. Dental decay in baby teeth can negatively affect permanent teeth and lead to future dental problems.
The most common dental problem among preschoolers is tooth decay. Primary teeth are very important. They help children in chewing and digestion, help in speech development, and hold space for permanent teeth to develop in the correct positions.
Teaching good dental habits
The best way to protect your child's teeth is to teach him good dental habits. With proper coaching, children will quickly adopt good oral hygiene as a part of their daily routine. However, while they may be an enthusiastic participant, they won't yet have the control or concentration to brush their teeth all by themselves.
You'll need to supervise and help them so that the brush removes all the plaque - the soft, sticky, bacteria-containing deposits that accumulate on the teeth, causing tooth decay.
Brushing your teeth
As soon as your child develops his first tooth, you should be helping your child brush their teeth two times a day with a smear (the size of a grain of rice) of fluoride toothpaste on a child-sized toothbrush that has soft bristles. There are brushes designed to address the different needs of children of all ages, ensuring that you can select a toothbrush that is appropriate for your child.
Amount of toothpaste
At age three, you can start using a pea-size amount of fluoride toothpaste, which helps prevent cavities. If your child doesn't like the taste of the toothpaste you’re using, try another flavour. Also, try to teach your child not to swallow the paste, although at this age, they are often still too young to learn to rinse and spit. Swallowing too much fluoride toothpaste can create white or brown spots on your child's adult teeth. You can avoid that by using the appropriate tooth paste for your child’s age group.
Brushing Motion
You must have heard all kinds of advice on whether the best brushing motion is up and down, back and forth, or around in circles. The truth is that the direction doesn't matter. What's important is to clean each tooth thoroughly, top and bottom, inside and out.
A child cannot brush his teeth without help until he's older and reaches the age of about six to eight years. So be sure to supervise or do the actual brushing if necessary.
Too much sugar
Besides regular brushing with the right amount of fluoride toothpaste, your child’s diet will play a key role in his dental health. And of course, here, sugar is the big villain. The risk of cavities increases when teeth are frequently exposed to sugar.
Make sure to always brush your child's teeth after eating a sugary food item. Also, do not allow your child to have any sugar-containing liquid in a sippy cup for a prolonged period. Never allow your child to go to bed with a milk bottle, milk should be substituted with water only, to prevent early childhood caries.
There are a few foods you should try to limit your child’s intake of if you want them to have healthy teeth and gums as they grow older. We know it isn’t always easy, but the effort will pay off in whiter teeth, brighter smiles, and less costly dental work down the road.
Here’s our list of the worst foods for your child’s teeth:
We aren’t saying that your children can never have any candy; that’s probably a bit unrealistic. What we are saying is that, as the parent, you can make a concerted effort to limit your child’s intake of sugary candy that can harm their teeth, gums, and cause other health problems.
It’s important that unhealthy candy is viewed as a “special treat” as opposed to a part of their daily diet.
Dental checkups
The first dental visit for your child should be whenever he gets his first tooth, this visit is very important to educate the parents about milk teeth and their care. The child should visit the dentist twice a year for regular checkup and a fluoride application if required.
As part of the dental checkup, the dentist will make sure that all teeth are developing normally, that there are no dental problems, and give you further advice on proper hygiene.
Baby teeth do not last forever, but they are very important in your child’s life long health. Take good care of them and you will prevent more complicated and costly procedures in the future.
Written by Dr Norma Nasir, General Dentist and Medical Administrator, Al Essa Dental Center, DDS (MFDS RCS) Ireland
Al Essa Dental Center’s Al Khuwair branch is open from Sunday to Thursday between 4pm and 9pm, and on Saturdays, from 10am to 3pm. To book an appointment, please call or WhatsApp the clinic on +968 9852 5020.
