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dental health

4 Reasons to Keep Your Kid's Teeth Healthy

Sticking to a regular brushing routine can be quite challenging when your child starts teething. This is largely due to the fact that their teeth are too few and also because your toddler might jerk around during brushing. Nevertheless, many dentists recommend that parents instill healthy brushing habits in their kids as soon as they get their first teeth. Keeping your child’s teeth healthy and strong from an early age sets a firm foundation for a healthy and happier life. There are a number of benefits that you and your child can enjoy by keeping their teeth clean and healthy. Let us now briefly go over a few of these.

Provides a Foundation for Good Oral Hygiene Practices into Adulthood

As we mentioned at the outset, any good dentist will recommend that you start brushing your kid’s mouth as soon as they start teething. The reason for this is that breast milk and formula (which are what your toddler consumers in their early years) contain lactose sugars just like other ordinary foods. While these sugars are not too concentrated, they can still promote the growth and reproduction of bacteria, which can lead to gum problems if left to accumulate. It is therefore vital that you always wipe your baby’s gums with a soft and warm piece of cloth to get rid of food particles.

Once the milk teeth emerge, you can start brushing your kid’s teeth at least twice a day, and you should teach them how to do it the right way. If these healthy oral hygiene habits are inculcated early, your child will continue doing them as they grow older.

Why It's Important For Kids to Brush Their Teeth Before Bed

Raising a toddler is like a full-time job with no off days. You have to be constantly on the watch, directing, and observing what and how they eat, learn and even their micro behaviors. In the midst of all the running and shouting (and laughter), you may forget to maintain your child's bedtime dental health routine.

Of course, they may remember to brush their teeth by themselves, but most of the times, they may be too lazy to do so, or too distracted to remember their routine.
As such, you should assume the responsibility of making sure that your kid brushes their teeth every evening before bed. And no, it's not just for routine purposes. Daily dental care for toddlers and kids, in general, has a lot of benefits, including:

Preventing Food Particles from Accumulating in The Mouth

Assuming that your child spends all their days in school, it means that by dinner time, they will have taken lunch, and probably a couple of snacks. These meals may leave small particles between the teeth and gums, and over time, they can accumulate and cause cavities and inflammation. Brushing before bed effectively removes all the day's food particles, and remnant bacteria, from the teeth and gums.

Mitigating the Effects of Low Saliva Production at Night

Apart from aiding in digestion, saliva has also been proven to be an antibacterial agent. During the day, the mouth produces adequate saliva to protect the teeth from bacterial infections, and that's why we can get away without brushing.

What to Expect for a Child’s Tooth Filling

Learning that your child has a tooth cavity can come as a total surprise to you as a parent. This is especially true if you've been making sure they brush and floss their teeth regularly.

However, cavities in children are actually far more common than you may think. As a matter of fact, studies by the World Health Organization have revealed that between 60 to 90 percent of children are affected by cavities around the world.

If you have just discovered that your child has a cavity, you’ll need to schedule a visit to the dentist to arrange for a tooth filling. It is worth noting that kids are naturally afraid of dentists. You should, therefore, strive to create a comfortable and safe environment in order to alleviate your child's fears. Here are some of the tips that can help you prepare your child for their tooth filling procedure.

Reinforce a Positive Attitude

When preparing your child for a dental visit, it is crucial to maintain a positive attitude. This is mainly because children tend to absorb the emotions of their parents. Consequently, panicking in front of your child can make them uneasy and scared of going to the dentist.

You should, therefore, maintain a sense of calm, and avoid using language that may paint a scary picture in your child's mind. Remember, the goal here is to make them comfortable enough so that they don't experience anxiety during the procedure.

Consult with your Dentist Beforehand

What Your Tongue Can Tell You about Your Health

For most people, the tongue is just a body part that helps in tasting food. Due to this reason, the tongue is often taken for granted, and less attention is paid to its health.

The truth of the matter, however, is that the tongue is a vital organ that can reveal a lot of information about an individual’s overall health. As a matter of fact, most dentists probe a patient’s tongue during dental check-ups to determine the state of the oral, as well as the general body health. It is therefore essential to be able to pick up the clues and decipher any information that the tongue is sending you.

Here are some of the facts that your tongue might be sending you about your health:

White coating on the Tongue

A healthy tongue is supposed to be bright pink in colour. If you notice that your tongue has a white coating, this could be a tell-tale sign that you have an oral yeast infection inside the mouth cavity. Your tongue may also have a white coating due to poor oral hygiene.

It is therefore important to schedule a dental check-up if you notice a white coating on your tongue, even if you brush regularly. This will allow you to get to the root of the problem, and seek effective remedies.

Tongue being too Red

An overly red tongue usually signals Kawasaki disease, which is caused by vitamin deficiency. The condition can be remedied easily at home by adding more vitamins in your diet.

Recognizing and Treating Gingivitis

If your gums are swollen, painful and irritated, and assume a darker shade of red, then you may be having periodontal disease (gum disease).

Gum disease occurs in two sequential stages: Gingivitis and periodontitis. Gingivitis is the first stage of gum disease, and is exemplified by mild to moderate inflammation and irritation of the gums. If not detected and treated early enough, gingivitis develops into periodontitis - a more serious and painful condition. In a worst-case scenario, periodontitis destroys the entire jaw bone.

So What Causes Gingivitis?

As mentioned earlier, the leading cause of gingivitis is poor or improper dental care and hygiene. For instance, if you don't brush your teeth regularly, there will be an accumulation of bacteria, mucus and food particles (plaque) on your teeth, which causes decay over time. Additionally, unchecked plaque buildup eventually develops into tartar, which being a heavier compound, sticks to the base of the teeth, hence accelerating the onset of gingivitis.

Other key causes of gingivitis include tobacco use, untreated diabetes, and hormonal changes during pregnancy. Further, brushing or flossing aggressively may injure your gums, resulting in gingivitis. You can also develop gingivitis from:

Medications such as Dilantin and some contraceptive pills
Poorly aligned teeth
Improperly fitted braces and dentures
A genetic predisposition to gum disease from your family roots

Signs and Symptoms of Gingivitis

The following are the signs and symptoms that symbolize gingivitis:

Pain when chewing food

Do Your Gums Bleed?

bleed gums dental health checkup in Corona CA

Do you take good care of your teeth and gums?

When brushing your teeth, this is the perfect time to inspect the teeth and gums to make sure that they are healthy. One of the biggest signs of gum disease is when your gums are bleeding.

We don't mean on a regular basis. We mean that when you've brushed your teeth and rinse out, you may be seeing blood in your sink. You may just think that it's normal or brush it off. Perhaps this is just what happens whenever you brush and floss.

But what you may have initially chalked up to brushing a bit too hard or the bristles of your brush may indicate something much more. Bleeding when you brush can be a sign that there is a bigger issue and that gum disease is present.

Believe it or not, when the gums bleed, this is one of the primary signs that they are dealing with an infection. This infection has the ability to progress and have an extremely negative impact on your oral health and your health overall. That means it is a big deal-- don't keep ignoring it!

The first time that you see blood should be the motivating factor and you should make a dental appointment immediately! The dentist will be able to evaluate what's going on, give recommendations, and even perform treatment dental work if it is required.

Gum Disease Complications

What is gum disease? At its heart, it's an infection that occurs due to bacteria that have been sitting in accumulations of tartar and plaque. This is why good oral hygiene can become so important. What you do or do not do is going to either keep your teeth and gums happy or send them further down a progressive road of infection and decay that could lead to tooth loss and much more.