Preventative dental care at a young age, why it’s important.

    Your child’s teeth are susceptible to decay the moment they emerge from underneath the gumline. This is why it is important to establish preventative measures early in your child’s life. Vargas, Crall, & Schneider (as cited in Guzmán-Armstrong, 2005) state, tooth decay (caries) among children is the most common childhood disease in the United States.  Often early childhood caries are caused by factors such as high sugar intake and a lack of brushing. These habits have been shown to negatively impact a child’s quality of life in areas such as sleep, weight, and social interactions (Acharya and Tandon, 2011).

    There are preventative measures that can be taken to prevent early childhood caries.  For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics (2011) recommends that children visit the dentist within their first 12 months to provide parental education and assess the caries risk of the child. Studies such as that conducted by Wagner, Greiner, and Heinrich (2014), support this recommendation with evidence indicating children whose parents had received oral health care instruction from dental health educators within the first week of birthing, had a significant reduction in the occurrence of caries compared to those of the study’s control group. The American Dental Association (ADA) guidelines for child oral healthcare outline additional preventative measures such as:

•          Preventing the transmission of bacteria from the mother to the child via saliva.

•          Establishing daily brushing and flossing routines

•          Avoid filling the bottle with liquids such as juice and soft drinks.

•          Limiting daily bottle usage.

    For more information on how to prevent tooth decay in your child, please visit your nearest dentist for an oral health evaluation and education on preventative measures that you can establish in your household.  www.akhealthcareamerica.com

References

Acharya, S., & Tandon, S. (2011). The effect of early childhood caries on the quality of life of children and their parents. Contemporary Clinical Dentistry, 2(2), 98-101. doi:10.4103/0976-237X.83069

Anne Rowan-Legg. (2013). Oral health care for children - a call for action. Paediatrics & Child Health, 18(1), 1.

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay (2014, April). Retrieved from

               http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/b/baby-bottle-tooth-decay

Do, L. G., & Spencer, A. (2007). Oral health-related quality of life of children by dental caries and fluorosis experience. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 67(3), 132-139. doi:10.1111/j.1752-7325.2007.00036.x

Guzmán-Armstrong, S. (2005). Rampant caries. The Journal of School Nursing, 21(5), 272. doi:10.1622/1059-8405(2005)21[272:RC]2.0.CO;2

Healthy Habits (2014, April). Retrieved from

               http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/babies-and-kids/healthy-habits

Wagner, Y., Greiner, S., & Heinrich‐Weltzien, R. (2014). Evaluation of an oral health promotion program at the time of birth on dental caries in 5‐year‐old children in vorarlberg, austria. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 42(2), 160-169. doi:10.1111/cdoe.12072