Right now, medical practitioners across the region are struggling to control an epidemic. And no, it’s not heroin we’re talking about, it’s dental disease in children.
“It’s rampant,” said Nancy McDermott, assistant nurse manager of surgery with St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Florence, noting her surgery department sees everything from extractions to pulpectomies (root canals for baby teeth) to fillings.
Because kids typically don’t handle local anesthesia well, they’re referred to St. Elizabeth for these kinds of dental procedures and put under general anesthesia.
According to Dr. David Ison, an independent dental practitioner who works out of St. Elizabeth’s Florence location, “It’s my contention that it is not a lack of access to care as much as it is a lack of informed parents, caregivers and patients.”
So, what information do dentists wish you knew about your child’s teeth?
1. Your child’s baby teeth are important.
Many parents, Ison says, don’t think their child’s baby teeth need to be saved, but those baby teeth help prevent crooked teeth in the future by allowing the space necessary for permanent teeth to erupt and, he adds, “they help dictate the architecture of the adult face.”
2. Get your child to the dentist early.
One of the factors McDermott and Ison believe to be at play behind the increase in pediatric dental disease is economics.
Many families with out-of-work parents who don’t receive dental insurance, or low-to moderate-income families who make too much to receive financial assistance but too little to afford good dental insurance, often can’t afford the co-pays for their children’s regular dental visits. The result? The kids just don’t go.
“Making sure kids attend regular dental appointments is so important when they’re little,” McDermott said. “If parents can at all afford to get kids there, that really needs to be done.”
Ison advises children be seen by a dentist around 1 year old, unless there is a noticeable problem for which the child should be seen earlier. After the initial visit, children should then be seen on a six-month basis.
“It gives the dentist the chance to start educating the parent,” he said.
3. If you’re going to bypass the regular checkups, at least use tap water at home.
You see it everywhere: swinging from people’s hands on the streets, in car cup holders around the country, in bulk in the grocery aisle. It’s bottled water, of course. And if you haven’t noticed the trend away from tap, you should.
All of the bottled water we’re drinking is depriving us of some very important minerals, one being fluoride, which is crucial to children’s developing teeth.
Fluoride helps baby teeth develop a hard enamel surface that protects them from cavities.
Use tap water to make your child’s drinks to ensure he or she is receiving the right amount of fluoride.
4.Good oral hygiene is imperative.
“It’s so crucial to teach kids when they’re very young to brush their teeth twice a day, in the morning and at night, and to use dental floss,” McDermott said.
The most important time of day to brush a child’s teeth, Ison adds, is immediately before bedtime. “And then nothing else to eat or drink except tap water. That would cure a whole world of hurts.”
5. Don’t put them to bed with a bottle.
Children who go to sleep holding a baby bottle tend to have it in their mouths all night long, causing little teeth to decay very quickly.
Wean your child off bottles at around age 1, but never put them to bed with a bottle unless it’s filled with tap water, Ison advises.
