Sound Advice for Child's First Dental Visit
by Andrea Gonzales, DDS, MS, Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry
When should I schedule my child's first visit to the dentist? "I'm often asked this question from new parents," says Dr. Andrea Gonzales, a specialist in pediatric dentistry with Dental Care 4 Kids in Flower Mound, TX. "It surprises many parents to learn that all the major dental and medical pediatric associations (ADA, AAPD and AAP) recommend that your child see the dentist by their first birthday to establish a dental home for regular dental care."
At this first visit, the dentist and staff will discuss nutrition and diet and how it affects your child's teeth, go over oral hygiene instruction, perform an oral exam of your child's mouth, and possibly apply fluoride varnish (only if it's indicated due to a high cavity [caries] risk). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that caries (cavities) is the most prevalent infectious disease in our nation's children! More than 40% of children have caries by the time they reach kindergarten. The good news is that caries is a preventable disease with early education and intervention. By bringing your child to the dentist by the age of 1 year, the dentist can help you establish a routine of good oral hygiene and a dental-friendly diet to keep your child on the road to being cavity-free.There are several general tips that I always give to new parents. Oral hygiene measures should be started by the time your child's first tooth comes in.
Cleansing your infant's teeth with a small soft toothbrush twice daily should help prevent the cavity-causing bacteria from collecting and proliferating. You can start using a smear (about the size of a grain of rice) of children's fluoride toothpaste on the toothbrush as soon as the first tooth appears. Once your child reaches age 3 years, you can start to use a pea-sized amount of toothpaste.
"It's best not to start the habit of putting your child to bed with a bottle," suggests Dr. Gonzeles. "If you do, the bottle should contain nothing but water because juice, milk, formula and any substance with carbohydrates (sugars) that is placed in a bottle is constantly bathing your child's teeth in sugar and this can result in cavities." Milk or formula left at room temperature after an hour can also harbor bacteria and cause gastrointestinal distress. You should encourage your child to sit in their highchair or at a table when consuming snacks, rather than allowing your child to carry around a container of any snack containing carbohydrates, in order to prevent constant grazing and exposure of the teeth to carbohydrates. Some of the snack foods that are high in carbohydrates are the starches (crackers, pretzels, chips, Goldfish) and sticky things like fruit snacks and fruit leather (whether organic or not, they contain sugar, even if it's naturally occurring). The best snacks are cheese and fresh fruits (not dried fruit!) and vegetables.
You and other caregivers shouldn't share eating utensils with your children because the utensils can pass the cavity-causing bacteria from the adult's mouth to the child's. For this same reason, you don't want children to share pacifiers, sippy cups or eating utensils because they can spread the bacteria between the children. Everyone should have their own toothbrush, too.
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Andrea Gonzales, DDS, MS, is Board Certified in Pediatric Dentistry and a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. She graduated from Baylor College of Dentistry with her DDS degree (general dentistry degree) and completed an additional two-year pediatric dental residency at Baylor College of Dentistry, Children's Medical Center of Dallas and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. Dr. Gonzales and her husband Dr. Tom Wickersham have a private pediatric dental practice specializing in children and adolescents. Dental Care 4 Kids has been serving Flower Mound and the surrounding areas of Lewisville, Highland Village, Lantana, Corinth and Denton since 1997.