Also referred to as childhood dental caries, baby bottle tooth decay is a common occurrence among children who are under five years, and it can be avoided through parent awareness and preventive measures.
If your baby is showing symptoms of tooth decay, your pediatric dentist in Saratoga Springs dental clinic can help you treat these symptoms thus protect your child’s teeth. The type of treatment administered is dependent on the extent of damage by the tooth decay.
Similar to any other health issues, the sooner you address the problem, the less invasive the treatment will be.
Treatment for Non-Severe Childhood Dental Caries
The treatment plan majorly depends on the severity of the decay and the age of your child. The first stage is characterized by white spots on the surface of the tooth. At this point, simple fluoride treatment or placement of fluoride varnish on top of the tooth is sufficient to re-mineralize the entire teeth set.
This treatment option reverses the decay process through the rebuilding of the tooth surface enamel. In other situations, your pediatric dentist might recommend fluoride supplements to keep the enamel strong.
At this point, there are dietary changes that you can make to stop the decay from progressing. These include limiting intake of acidic foods, limiting intake of juices more so citrus juices, and increasing milk and water intake to substitute juices.
Treatment for Severe Childhood Dental Caries
Unfortunately, if you notice your baby’s tooth decay at a later stage, fluoride treatments will not be sufficient. Advanced decay is characterized by swollen or bleeding gums, bad breath, black or brown spots on baby teeth, irritability, fever, and swelling, which is a sign of an infection.
Your dentist might recommend stainless steel crown treatment since it is easy, durable, and does not require frequent follow-ups or replacement. In other situations, your dentist might recommend tooth extraction. However, this is only done if the tooth is damaged to the extent that it cannot be restored.
Why It Is Essential to Treat Baby Bottle Teeth
Most people have a misconception that there is no problem if your baby losses their teeth prematurely since they are not permanent after all. However, what you do not know is that your child’s permanent teeth are there in your baby’s jawbone from a young age.
The baby teeth are meant to hold space for the permanent teeth and as such, if they are prematurely lost the spacing of the permanent teeth is distorted. This among other issues might call for more complex orthodontic treatment procedures in the future.
Infant tooth loss makes it difficult for your child to feed thus might lead to lack of essential nutrition for proper growth. Additionally, the front teeth are essential for proper diction and speech of your child, thus; their loss could mean future speech therapy.
Therefore, introduce good hygiene habits to your child from when they are infants through their childhood. This ensures that they carry them through to adulthood to maintain healthy smiles.