Helping Your Children Develop Healthy Dental Habits

One of the most important things that a parent can do is to set their children up with good habits and a firm foundation of strong health. All parents know how important it is to make sure their kids have good, nutritious food, enough restful sleep, and regular checkups with a doctor. However, it is just as important for children to take care of their teeth. In fact, dental health affects all sorts of future health issues, making it especially crucial that your kids are in good shape.

First of all, make sure that you have a dentist that you trust and rely on. Your children should start seeing their dentist by one year of age. It also helps to have a dentist that is familiar with your kids in case of an emergency, especially during those busy and clumsy toddler years. Find a local dentist you can help you when you really need it. For example, if you need Charlotte emergency dentist, reach out to an established provider like Charlotte Dental Partners for your whole family.

Every day, practice a routine that takes care of your kids' teeth and sets them up for a lifetime of good dental habits. Choose a toothbrush that is the right size and shape for your child's mouth. Also, use dental floss or a hand-held, single-use floss holder that will fit your kids' smaller teeth. Let your kids feel like they are part of the process by allowing them to pick their own toothbrush and toothpaste. This way they will feel like they are part of the process and care more about the outcome.

Make brushing and flossing more fun by incorporating songs and stories. There are a number of kids' TV shows that talk about the importance of taking care of your teeth, so let your children's favorite characters help make brushing fun. Singing the same song every morning and night while brushing is good for two reasons. First, it makes the experience more fun. Second, it makes sure that your kids are brushing long enough to have a good effect. Pick a fun song that lasts about two minutes.

Taking care of your teeth is a crucial part of everyday hygiene. While teaching your kids the importance of taking care of their teeth, make sure you lead by example and take care of your own.  

Pin It

First Time Having His Molar Tooth Extracted

The boy had his tooth extracted recently. It was actually his fourth visit to the dentist for the last two months. His gum was swollen due to a bad filling. He was given antibiotics the first visit, a medicated filling on the second visit, a temporary filling on the third visit. On the fourth visit he was supposed to get the temporary filling replaced by a permanent filling but his gum was still swollen so he had to have his molar tooth extracted. It could no longer be saved.

He was very brave at first, nodding and asking the dentist questions. He was ok when the Local Anaesthetic was injected but when the dentist started to pull, well, thats when the flood of tears came. He had to be consoled by 2 nursing aids and the dentist. All 3 fussed around him, wiping his tears, offering him warm water followed by a cup of hot milo. He cried and cried.

The dentist was very gentle and patient with him and the entire extraction took well over an hour! He had ice-cream after that and he said today is a bad day at first -100 points for visiting the dentist but +100 points for the ice-cream so it evens out.

Later on (about an hour after the dental visit) his body started to itch and his old spots from last year's epstein barr virus infection started to become inflamed. Red, itchy, slightly swollen and a couple turned into blisters. They look like very bad bruises all over his body. He tends to get this whenever he has a fever and infection.

So it was off to the doctor we went yesterday. The doctor was not sure whether it was an allergy reaction to the Local Anaesthetic or an infectious mononucleosis.  Infectious Mononucleosis - I must remember to check up more on that later. He was given antibiotics for 4 days plus antihistamine and a cream for 5 days.

For the sake of memory, I am recording down the Local Anaesthetic here so that I may refer to it later.

He was given 1.6ml of Scandonest 2% which was injected to the gum. The ingredients in the Scandonest Local Anaesthetic are mepivacaine 36mg and adrenaline 18mcg.

Hopefully he will recover by Chinese New Year.

Pin It

A delayed visit to the Dentist

We procrastinated and finally made it for our dentist appointment which was supposed to have been at the end of last year!

My girl had another permanent teeth growing behind her milk teeth. This one was the tooth next to the two front teeth. The permanent tooth had fully grown and there was no more space for it to be pushed forward. The dentist said we should have brought her in earlier to have the milk tooth extracted. Now she probably will have to wear braces later on to straighten out the teeth. :(

We learned a lesson here. When the milk teeth grew behind her two front teeth, it was OK not to extract it at the time because eventually the teeth dropped off on its own and the permanent teeth made its way to the front in a developing mouth and jawline. However, now that the two front permanent teeth are firmly in place, there was no space for a third permanent tooth to be pushed forward the way the two front ones were earlier. It is all a bit complicated.

I guess the lesson is don't procrastinate. In case of doubt, always consult the professionals early.

Eventually, my dentist decided not to extract the milk tooth since it no longer makes any difference now. She said she did not want to frighten my girl by the painful procedure, my girl was already scared enough. She said that we can wait till the tooth drop off by itself eventually.

The dentist mentioned that her molars were very rough. She said that in the next visit, she should get them filled up as they will eventually decay. Almost everyone has this problem said the dentist. If it is filled up then it won't decay in future.

My boy was very brave and steady according to the dentist. It was not his first visit to the dentist since he had come to watch his sister on the dentist chair before. However this was his first time on the dentist chair. The dentist said he was very steady and could take instructions very well. He sat very still and "endured" the process with a big frown on his face but he did not move or complain. He had his teeth polished. The dentist said decay was forming on his two front milk teeth.

She said that children should be introduced to the process of going to the dentist gradually and in a very friendly manner. That is why she prefers not to do extractions or anything that will frighten the child during their first visit. The first visit is to familiarise themselves with the environment and process and then to slowly ease into it. She gives them reward stickers and special toothpaste and toothbrushes as gifts. The gifts are probably sponsored by the toothpaste companies but the point is she wants to make their visit fun, enjoyable and not at all scary. When she does the polishing process, she talks to them all the time about the "special" brushes that she is going to use. She takes pictures of their teeth and shows it to them.

She says that if children get introduced to going to the dentist in this manner, eventually when they grow up they will not treat going to the dentist as something fearful but will accept it as just another thing to do like going to the hair salon to get their hair cut.

I like her approach. I hope my kids will eventually treat dentist visits in that manner and will not fear it the way mummy and daddy does. lol.

Pin It

Delayed Dentist Appointment

We were supposed to have gone for a dentist appointment at the end of last year but we have procrastinated. Bleargh.

Everyone needs some dentistry work at home. Hubby's gums are so bad that his teeth are falling out!

The girl's baby teeth is growing behind her permaneant teeth again. Funny, how all her permaneant teeth would sprout out first before her baby teeth drops off.

The boy should have his first proper check up.

As for me, well, I just need a clean-up. I have something like 8-9 crowns. Once, one of it dropped off during an evening cocktail at work! I had to gently remove the tooth, put it in a tissue paper and smile with my lips pursed throughout the evening. Ever since then, I've had nightmares about my teeth falling out every now and then. :)

Pin It

Her first Scaling Experience at the Dentist

We took the kids to see the dentist on the first day of the school holidays. What a way to start the holidays. Anyway, so far, the kids are ok with the dentist. They like to collect the stickers she gives! *Rolls eyes*

The girl was not afraid. She sat down on the chair. Then the dentist took a picture of her teeth to show her and us that she had quite a lot of calculus. "Its very young to have calculus", said the dentist.

"See this special thing?" said the dentist to my girl. "It can suck water". "I'm going to give your teeth a nice shower now." she continued after the scaling with a soft brush. I like it that the dentist is very good with kids. I think its because she has a daughter too, just one year older than my girl.

She says that my girl has very crooked teeth and she's worried about the placing of some of them as it can distort the jaw if left unchecked but she said we'll monitor it for now.

She told us to bring the girl every 6 months to get her used to going to a dentist. "Its very important" she says. "This way, they will grow up unafraid and treat a visit to the dentist just like a visit to the hairdressers for a haircut."

She just had a peer into my boy's mouth. The boy was allowed to watch the scaling too to get him used to being in a dentist room.

Then it was my turn. And after we were all done, the kids requested for stickers and she gave them two each. And that was how her first scaling experience went.

Pin It

Another tooth out

About 2 weeks ago, another one of my girl's bottom teeth was loose. It had become very lose during her kindy concert but she was ok with it. We shook it and I asked her "When do you think this one will fall out?"

She usually can predict it by telling me "I think this will fall out tomorrow night" etc. lol. Later that day while she was having her bath, I noticed that the tooth was missing. Worried that she may have accidentally swallowed it, I asked her what had happened to her tooth.

She then told me "Oh, it must have been that dirty thing, I kicked into the drain. I thought there was something dirty on the floor so I kicked it into the drain. It must have been my tooth." Hahaha.

Pin It

More Permanent Teeth replacing Milk Teeth

About 2 weeks ago, another one of my girl's front teeth dropped out. She is six.

So far, she has had 3 lower front teeth fall out. One more lower front teeth is lose. They have been replaced by 4 lower front permanent teeth. All of her new permanent teeth came out BEFORE the old milk teeth drops out. She also has two new permanent molars at the back.

Now with the latest dropout (if I may call it that), she has lost the top two front teeth. I can now see the two new permanent teeth sprouting. Unlike her bottom row of teeth, the top permanent teeth is sprouting AFTER the old milk teeth dropped off.

So far in all, she has lost 5 milk teeth and gained 8 permanent teeth, some of which are still growing slowly. :)

Pin It

Schedule for Milk Teeth to be replaced by permanent teeth

Over the weekend my 6 year old girl lost two more milk teeth. One top front teeth and another lower front teeth. (Her two lower front milk teeth has already been replaced by permanent teeth earlier. The new lower front permanent teeth had come in behind the milk teeth and it took some time before the milk teeth dropped off.)

Now the same thing is happening to the lower front teeth that is beside the new permanent teeth. New permanent teeth has come up behind the milk teeth. Now, one of the milk teeth has dropped off. I am waiting for the other to drop off soon as it is lose now.

As for the top front tooth, it came off not at the root but got sort of broken off so there are still small parts that will eventually drop off. The new permanent teeth has not grown in behind the milk teeth unlike the lower teeth so I suppose those will come in later. The other top front teeth is getting lose now too so I expect it to drop off anytime.

For the record, she's got 6 permanent teeth now. 2 lower molars, 2 fully grown lower front teeth and 2 more growing lower front teeth next to the fully grown permanent ones. She has lost 4 milk teeth in all. 3 lower front teeth and 1 upper front tooth.

Pin It

When new permanent teeth comes in behind the milk teeth

Credit for the Image: boyntondentistry.com

Here are the links I promised when I noticed that the my girl's permanent teeth was coming in behind her milk teeth. I panicked and did some research on the internet and found some really good links. Here they are:

1. 1. Forum discussion on "I just noticed that my 5 year old has a new tooth coming in behind another!" from DealoftheDay.com
2. 2. Permanent Teeth Coming in Behind Baby Teeth is said to be a common occurence for the lower front teeth at Smilekidz.com
3. 3. Permanent Teeth coming in behind Baby Teeth from the Pediatric Dentistry Blog
4. 4. Permanent teeth coming in behind baby teeth - discussion on the Berkeley Parents Network (BTW, I love to reference the Berkeley Parents Network for lots of discussion on bringing up kids. Too bad you can't join the discussion unless you live in that area but its still a good reference place to read about advise by real parents to other parents about real parenting issues)
5. 5. How are milk teeth replaced by permanent teeth? The animation by 32teethonline here shows the more common way where the permanent teeth pushes out the baby teeth during eruption, it does not talk about permanent teeth that is growing behind or parallel to the milk teeth. Still the animation is good and you can show it to your little ones when you talk to them about their teeth.

Hope these links will be useful to other parents whose child's permanent teeth is coming in behind their milk teeth.

My girl had her primary teeth coming in behind her lower baby teeth just like in the picture above but two instead of one. They grew till they were almost the same height before the milk teeth finally fell off. The dentist I saw did not think it was necessary to extract them. My sister in law who had the same problem with her son had his milk tooth extracted by the dentist. So to extract or not, depends on which dentist you see, I suppose. After a while the permanent teeth will move to its rightful place I am told although my girl's teeth are still a little bit behind the others. The dentist does not think it is a problem. If it eventually moves to the front, I will post an update on this blog.

Related Posts:

Her first Dental Visit at age 6

Help! Her milk teeth is growing parallel with her permanent teeth

A delayed visit to the Dentist

Pin It

Her First Dental Visit at age 6

My daughter is 5 going on 6. We brought her for her first dental visit at the end of last year. She had her bottom two permanent teeth coming in behind her milk teeth.

I first notice the permanent teeth a few months back. The milk teeth felt loose so I delayed the visit to the dentist. However, even though it appeared rather loose it was very stubborn and took its time to come off. By the time we brought her to the dentist, one of it had dropped off. The other which first became loose had sort of fallen into the space where the first had dropped off.

The dentist was not at all concerned about it. She said that it was common and we need not extract it since it was loose and about to come off anyway. She wanted the first visit for my girl to be pleasant so she just looked around, said everything was fine, praised my girl for brushing and gave her a sticker.

She also encouraged me to bring my 3 going on 4 boy into the room with us to look around to expose him. It was a very pleasant visit.......... for them but not for me. I had gum surgery. Ewe.

Oh before I forget, I wanted to note that she said that both my kids had an opposite bite (I'm not sure of the term) but what it meant was when they bite down, their lower teeth is in front instead of behind the upper teeth as it should be. She told us to monitor that and have it evaluated in a year's time.

Related Posts:
Help! Her milk teeth is growing parallel with her permanent teeth
When new permanent teeth comes in behind the milk teeth

Pin It

Help! Her milk teeth is growing parallel with her permanent teeth

Help! Its all my fault she's going to get crooked teeth. My girl's milk teeth was growing parallel with her permanent teeth and that got me really worried. Is that normal? I wondered.... I sourced around the internet and some described it as normal so I left it to drop off alone. But it didn't.......... not for a very very long time.

And for a long time, she had two rows of parallel teeth growing at her bottom front teeth. Help! I thought. Its all going to be my fault if her teeth turns out to be crooked! Its my fault for not doing anything about it earlier. These thoughts ran through my mind. I searched around the internet frantically and found many good links.

Stay around and I'll share those links. I'll also share the story of her first visit to the dentist etc when I have the time to update this blog.

Related posts:
Her first dental visit at age 6
When new permanent teeth comes in behind the milk teeth

Pin It