I am a Dentist near Houston and I often meet with parents who worry about their children’s dental health. There are many common misconceptions prevailing around to feed their worries.
Let’s look at some of these misconceptions that are misleading.
It doesn’t matter if Baby teeth fall, they were going to fall out eventually.
If the baby teeth of a child are healthy, so are their adult teeth. Starting with good oral hygiene early on has benefits even in adulthood. So, it is important to care for Baby teeth and not consider them unimportant. Baby teeth are required to hold their place up to the age of 12 or 13 so that the permanent molars grow properly and do not block other adult teeth.
As soon as they are able, allow the kids to brush their teeth.
Kids might not do deep teeth cleaning, which may result in cavities and infections. So, it is important for parents to keep an eye on children when they start brushing their teeth and guide them. Also, children will need your assistance to help them brush the teeth far back in the mouth.
Kids should have a habit of brushing their teeth as soon as they wake up.
Rather it’s the night-time that is more important for the kids to brush their teeth. Parents should make their kids learn the habit of brushing their teeth right before bedtime and make sure they don’t have anything besides water after brushing. This is to make sure that food particles or sugar don’t sit on the teeth all night, thus protecting teeth from developing cavities. It is recommended by dentists to have a healthy habit of brushing your teeth twice daily. Once at night, to keep them from developing cavities and in the morning to take care of bad breath.
Having juice is healthy for your teeth.
The High sugar content in juice can cause tooth decay in children. Though it is made from fruits, the sugar content and sourness in the fruit juice are not that good for the teeth. Even if the juice is watered down it is still as harmful as regular juice. Kids should be allowed to have anything other than water like soda, juice, or milk, only with a snack after 20 to 30 minutes gap.
According to a dentist near Houston upon eating or drinking anything the pH of the mouth gets altered. It becomes more acidic and gives cavities a breeding ground, and it takes time for the pH of the mouth to readjust after eating. In general, parents should consider snacks with low sugar content for kids, like, cheese, peanuts, and vegetables. Carbohydrates and dried fruits are recommended because of their high sugar content.
Chewing gum is harmful to Kids’ Teeth.
A pack of Chewing gum is harmless as long as it doesn’t contain sugar. Sugar-Free gum is safe for kids to chew. Chewing sugarless gum can help in readjusting your mouth’s pH balance more quickly. Chewing gum stimulates saliva flow in the mouth, which helps in washing away food particles stuck in your teeth. Also, keep an eye on children to make sure they don’t swallow the gum.
Even if parents keep an eyeful watch on their children, it is impossible to do so all day. They might not follow all the instructions regarding dental hygiene. So, it is imperative for you to have a dentist near Houston area, who provides deep Teeth Cleaning and other dental services for children if ever there is a problem with their teeth.
