Children’s Dentistry
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A combination of regular visits to the dentist from a young age, developing a good dental care routine at home and encouraging a healthy diet will help keep your child’s teeth in great shape for life.
The number one cause of tooth decay is sugar, not just the amount of sugar or acid in the diet, but how often it is consumed. The more often your child has sugary or acidic foods or drinks, the more likely they are to have decay. ‘Healthy’ fruit juices can contain as much sugar as a fizzy drink so it is important to try and stay strong and restrict sugary and acidic foods and drinks to mealtimes, even if you experience a few tantrums along the way. If you want to give your child a snack, cheese sticks, vegetables and fruit are great alternatives. Try to reduce the amount of dried fruit like raisins you give, as these are high in sugar.
For babies, don’t add any sugar into their drinks, or to foods when you introduce them to solids. It is also worth remembering that some processed baby foods contain quite a lot of sugar.
Check the list of ingredients on the packets, the higher up the list sugar is, the more there is in the product. Generally anything ending in ‘ose’ is a sugar e.g. fructose, glucose, lactose or sucrose.
Parenting is hard enough and life can be hectic, so remember that the Cwmbran Dental Care team are here to support and encourage you at every stage. We are truly passionate about ensuring children grow up with healthy teeth, which means no fillings!
At Cwmbran Dental Care, we encourage regular visits from an early age to help your child get used to the surroundings and what happens there. We make the visits as fun as possible and use positive incentives like colourful tooth brushing charts and reward stickers.
Children can sense fear in their parents, so it is important not to let your child feel that a visit to the dental team is something to be worried about. Try to be supportive if your child needs to have any dental treatment. If you have any fears of your own about going to the dentist, don’t let your child hear you talk about them.
As well as regular visits to the dentist, you also need to establish a good dental health care routine at home.
Babies and infants
Start dental care early by gently wiping new teeth and gums with a clean flannel. As more teeth come through, you can start using a soft toothbrush and a smear of fluoride toothpaste, choosing the correct one for babies.
Aged three to six
When your child turns three, you can progress to a pea-sized amount of paste. Brush your child’s teeth for around two minutes, twice a day, and especially before bedtime. Encourage them to brush for long enough using a novelty toothpaste and a child-friendly timer. There are a great selection of books introducing children to the unfamiliar things that they will encounter at the dentists, some of which we have for you to read in our waiting room. It’s also fun for children to role play ‘dentists’, using plastic dental mirrors and spoons at home.
Aged seven onwards
Supervise tooth brushing until children are old enough to brush properly by themselves, at around seven or eight years. However, even when they can clean their teeth alone, it’s probably a good idea to occasionally check they are still using an effective technique, as there are so many other more exciting things to distract them away from the job at hand at that age! Free phone apps like the award winning ‘Brush DJ’ make brushing along to music fun for children.
