Dental and oral diseases in children

Teeth. At six to seven months, the first two teeth appear on the lower jaw - incisors. At eight to nine months, on the upper jaw, symmetrically - two more upper incisors. At ten months, two more upper incisors appear on either side of the first two. At one year, two more incisors appear symmetrically on the lower jaw. At 12 to 15 months, at a distance of one tooth from the first four, the first premolars grow on both jaws, first the lower, then the upper. At 18 to 20 months, canines appear, and at 20 months - molars, also first the lower, then the upper.

Thus, by 20-30 months a child has 20 baby teeth, with some children being ahead of schedule, while others are somewhat behind the schedule.

Baby teeth need to be looked after no less carefully than permanent teeth. After eating, rinse your mouth with plain water, or better yet, brush your teeth. Naturally, you need to brush your teeth in the morning and evening, regardless of food. Therefore, as soon as your baby has four incisors at the top and bottom, buy your child a toothbrush (a small one, special for children - soft) and teach him to brush his teeth correctly. The movements of the toothbrush should be in all directions: from left to right, up and down, front and back. Up to three years old, let him brush his teeth without paste or powder (so that he doesn’t get full), and from three years old, you can use special children's pastes, of which there are a huge number on sale, both domestic and foreign.

It is especially important to brush your teeth at night, as food particles remain in your mouth, and microbes that cause tooth decay will multiply in them. In addition, under the influence of saliva, food particles decompose, forming acids that destroy tooth enamel. To strengthen your gums, you can massage them with your fingers for one minute.

Sweets (candies, pies, cookies, halva) are very harmful to teeth, especially those that stick to the teeth. Therefore, it is not advisable to give sweets to children before bedtime, it is better to replace them with an apple. This is an excellent workout that strengthens teeth, gums, chewing muscles and causes abundant salivation.

Preventing caries should be your special concern. To do this, you need to: 1) regularly examine your teeth; 2) treat them in a timely manner; 3) use toothpastes containing fluoride; 4) limit the consumption of sweets; 5) brush your teeth regularly.

If caries has affected baby teeth, they must be treated. Firstly, although baby teeth fall out, permanent teeth appear in their place, and caries from baby teeth can spread to them. Secondly, caries is a source of infection, and therefore diseased teeth can cause serious diseases: rheumatism, bronchial asthma, stomach and kidney diseases. Untreated, neglected carious teeth can lead to meningitis, brain abscess, sepsis. In addition, deep caries can reach the jawbone and interfere with the development of a permanent tooth.

Check your child's teeth every two weeks. If you find caries - and it appears as a small dot - do not hesitate. Caries develops very quickly and spreads from one tooth to another.

There is one more thing to remember. It is better to treat teeth when they do not hurt. If the child's first visit to the dentist is associated with severe pain, you will create a serious problem for yourself in the future. When the need to visit the dentist arises again, it will be very difficult to convince the child that this time it will not hurt. Children have another complication - incorrect formation of the dentition. Individual teeth can erupt outside of it, be turned relative to others, overlap one another. Sometimes the upper row of front teeth protrudes far forward compared to the lower and vice versa. The cause of abnormal eruption of teeth can be rickets, diseases of the upper respiratory tract, and sometimes thumb sucking. Defects in the formation of the dentition can cause a violation of pronunciation, and this subsequently leads to isolation, shyness and self-doubt.

Stomatitis. In the first year of life, children often suffer from a disease of the oral mucosa, most often the so-called thrush. Treatment of thrush is simple. First of all, it is necessary to follow hygiene rules: thoroughly wash nipples and pacifiers, treat them with a soda solution (half a teaspoon per glass of water). In no case should you lick the nipple before giving it to the child. Before the doctor arrives, white patches of plaque on the gums and tongue before or after eating can be washed with a 1% soda solution, and also with a solution of vitamin B12 applied to a cotton swab.

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