Taking care of your teeth is a lifelong job, and one that should not be underestimated in its importance. You should start your children off young by finding a great dentist for children who can help to teach them the importance of proper dental hygiene. Tooth care should start as soon as teeth are first present in a child’s mouth, though fluoride toothpaste should not be introduced until your child has reached the age of two. Fortunately, many dentists say that water works just fine for early teeth brushing and if you are looking for something a little more powerful, you can always purchase one of the non fluoride training toothpastes that are now commonly available in many different flavors. In fact, using a tasty training toothpaste can even help your child to enjoy the very important process of brushing their teeth, which should happen twice a day (ideally once in the morning and once at night, typically right before bed).
But as many a dentist for children knows all too well, too many children go without pediatric dental services on a regular basis and suffer the consequences because of it. In fact, recent data shows that twenty percent (or one child out of every five children) does not get the proper dental care form a dentist for children that they should be. In part directly related to this, as many as forty percent of all children will have had at least one cavity by the time they enter kindergarten, which is typically at or around the age of five. And between the ages of two and twelve, very nearly forty five percent (forty three percent, to be more exact) of all children will have experienced at least one cavity in a baby tooth – and maybe even a cavity in a permanent tooth as well. Unfortunately, not all of these cavities are treated and very nearly twenty percent of all children in the United States have at least one cavity that has not yet been treated. And the typical dentist for children who specializes in pediatric dentistry is very busy indeed, as tooth decay is one of the most widespread problems currently affecting children all throughout the United States, now as much as twenty times more common than diabetes and far more common than asthma as well.
Injuries are also commonly seen by the average dentist for children, particularly as children grow older and become more mobile, many of them beginning to be active participants in sports activities. These injuries typically result in a chipped, broken, or completely knocked out tooth (if not more than one) and sports activities alone account for as many as thirty nine percent of them (and certainly no fewer than ten percent of them). If your child sustains a dental injury such as the above, it is important to take them in to see a dentist for children as quickly as possible, as it is likely that they are in quite a bit of pain as a result of the injury that they have sustained, and it is also important that they are checked over for damage that might not be immediately visible to the naked eye.
Regular dental visits and dental work done by a dentist for children is hugely important for children and without it, children are up to three times more likely to miss school in direct correlation to a dental illness or injury. In fact, the CDC reports that as many as fifty one million school hours are lost each and every single year in the country of the United States alone because of a lack of dental treatment, let alone for any other reasons.
Fortunately, keeping your child’s teeth in good condition is not that difficult after all. Just making sure that they see a dentist for children on a regular basis can have a huge impact in the quality of their teeth and their overall dental health, as can enforcing important dental hygiene standards, such as brushing teeth on a regular basis. From the age of one and up, taking your child to see a dentist for children is nothing if not crucial.
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