When Should a Child Have Its First Cleaning?

Healthy teeth are important to your child’s overall health. They help children eat and properly communicated by forming sounds and words. They also affect the way child’s jaw develops. In addition, strong oral care also helps set good dental habits as they mature. The opposite is also true when poor oral care can lead to dental infection, carries, oral diseases or other dentally related issues.

The proper dental care begins way before a baby’s first tooth appears. Just because parents can’t see the teeth doesn’t mean they aren’t there. An interesting fact, teeth actually begin to form in the second trimester of mother pregnancy. At birth, the baby has 20 primary teeth, some of which are fully developed in the jaw.

Babies can indeed develop tooth decay if good feeding habits aren’t practiced. Putting a baby to sleep with a bottle might be convenient, but can harm the baby’s teeth. When the sugars from juice or milk remain on a baby’s teeth for hours, they can eat away at the enamel, creating a condition known as bottle mouth.

In order to avoid bottle mouth, at Palm Valley Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, we recommend that children see a dentist by their first birthday, or within 6 months of first tooth eruption. At the first visit, we explain to parents proper brushing and flossing techniques and do a modified exam while you baby sits on your lap.

These early visits are very important as it can help find problems early on and help babies get used to visiting the dentist so they’ll have less anxiety about going as they get older. As a pediatric dentistry specialists, we are trained to handle the wide range of issues associated with kids’ dental oral health, including overbite and jaw realignment with an orthodontist.