Looking after your little ones teeth
Here at Bewdley Dental Practice we have made it one of our aims to ensure that oral health can be accessed and understood by everyone, at any age.
It is no secret the importance of looking after your children’s teeth to ensure they don’t face any issues in the future. By having limitations on things such as fizzy drinks, sweets and chocolates will help keep their teeth healthy. We advise that sugary snacks and drinks should be consumed at meal times, no more than 3-4 times daily.
Children’s ‘first’ teeth generally start appearing at approximately 6 months old. It is important to start bringing your children along to the practice as soon as their first teeth erupt to introduce to them the sights and sounds of a dental surgery, which helps to prepare them for future visits. If your child is nervous you can discuss ways to help boost confidence with your dentist.
It is important that when teeth start to erupt that you start brushing them twice a day with a smear of child friendly fluoride toothpaste. The recommendations for fluoride in children’s toothpaste and the is age dependent.
- 0-3 years old are advised to use a smear of fluoride toothpaste containing a fluoride level of 1000 ppm (parts per million)
- After 3 years you are advised to use a pea sized amount of toothpaste containing 1350ppm – 1500ppm.
The level of fluoride can be found on the packaging of the toothpaste.
Supervision
We recommend that children should be supervised whilst brushing and a parent or guardian should brush the child’s teeth until they are 8 years old. There are different types of children’s toothbrushes available, we recommend a small headed toothbrush appropriate for your child’s age, again this information can be found on the packaging.
Tooth Ache
If your child starts complaining of a toothache, book an emergency appointment with your dentist as soon as possible. Sometimes the pain can be caused by a baby tooth being pushed out by an erupting adult tooth, but also can be caused by tooth decay.
If you have any concerns about your child’s teeth or oral health please contact the surgery to make an appointment with your dentist.
