Preventive Children Dentistry- Age 0-1 year

Preventive Pediatric dental care/ Preventive Children's dentistry constitutes a vast topic. Preventative maintenance is generally neglected in India, whether in dental or general health care. But as a millennial, I keep seeing several people showing interest in preventive care nowadays. This is a welcoming change as it improves overall health and also is cheap.

As parents, we always want to give the best for our kids. Till they reach a certain age and start understanding health and well-being their general and dental health responsibilities lie on their parents' shoulders. The habits that we teach our children today influence their health. Preventative care can be done at home and the dentist's office. In the following blog let's look at age-wise preventative dental care for children.

Age 0-1 year

The dental cavity is a multi-factorial disease and a lot of activities or environmental situations constitute a risk factor for developing cavities. Identifying these factors are critical so that they can be addressed accordingly

At-home care for children aged 0-1 year

Diet

WHO recommeds exclusive breast milk feeding till the age of 6 months and continuation of breat-milk till the age of 1 year or as mutually desired by the child and the mother.

Breastfeeding does not cause cavities. But, nursing bottle feeding at night time with breast milk or formula feed can cause cavities if left unchecked.

Do not allow your baby to sleep with a bottle at night. the continuous flow of milk/ infant formula from the bottle may result in increased cavities.

To know more about the dietary aspect of infants check our blog on diet for infants aged 0-6 months and 6 months to 1 year.

A few important points to note are

Brushing

Even before brushing you can massage the gum pads with soft moist gauze. This encourages in the eruption of the tooth. It also helps in cleaning the gum pads.

Brushing has to be started as soon as the first teeth erupts.

Start with a small flexible finger brush slowly you can move on to age-appropriate tooth brushes. It's essential to use toothpaste. It is always better to use fluoride-containing toothpaste as fluoride helps to prevent cavities.

For a child aged one year or less, a toothpaste contacting 1000 ppm of fluoride no more than a rice grain/ smear size quantity of the paste should be used.

Dental Home establishment for 0-1-year-old child

According to the American Association of Pediatric Dentistry "dental home is the ongoing relationship between the dentist and the patient, inclusive of all aspects of oral health care delivered in a comprehensive, continuously accessible, coordinated, and family-centered way."

A dental home should be established as and when the first tooth erupts or by the child's first birthday. Click on the links to learn more about the First Dental visit.

At ECR Dental Hospital we do a comprehensive demonstration on brushing technique, Tips for weaning, Teething, How to avoid pacifier and finger sucking habits?, growth of face and jaws, Injury prevention & baby proofing home, regular milestones, and caries risk assessment will be done by your dentist during these visits.

Customized treatment and prevention plans will be established for your child that helps in the harmonious growth of the oral cavity.

Preventive dentistry is an important aspect of overall health.