It’s never too early to start thinking about protecting your baby’s teeth. You can start caring for your baby’s gums right away by using a soft washcloth to wipe their gums twice a day, especially after feedings. This helps prepare them for a toothbrush and builds healthy habits for when kids start brushing their teeth.
Giving your baby a bedtime or nap-time bottle of juice, milk, or formula can put new teeth on a path to lots of decay. Bathing teeth in sugars overnight can put your baby at risk for high decay rate. Avoid giving your child fruit juices, sodas, and other sugary drinks, which can lead to tooth decay. Bacteria feed on the sugar from sweet drinks which attack the baby’s teeth.
Baby teeth may be small, but they are important. Baby teeth act as placeholders for adult teeth. You want to be sure you are brushing their teeth twice a day. Once your child becomes more independent, let them brush first and then help them to make sure they didn’t miss any areas, like the molars with deep grooves and pits. In our opinion, your child’s teeth brushing should be assisted until the age of approximately 10 years old.
