Baby Teeth Decay: Is It a Big Deal?

by databot | Apr 20, 2020 | Children's Oral Health, Pediatric Dental Treatments

Is Baby Teeth Decay a Big Deal?

Absolutely. Yes. No question about it. It is a big deal. You should incorporate healthy dental hygiene into your child’s morning and night time routines as soon as you see their first pearly white and start fostering those habits early to prevent tooth decay.

Why Is Baby Teeth Decay a Big Deal?

There are several reasons that explain the importance of baby teeth and why baby teeth decay (also referred to as bottle rot) is a big deal:

1. Baby teeth decay causes your baby pain. Tooth decay; whether it be in your teenager’s braces bracketed permanent teeth, in your own back molar, or in your baby/toddler’s baby teeth, is painful. It’s painful because the erosion of the protective enamel of the tooth can create holes in the tooth, and inside the tooth are nerves. If the decay is left untreated too long, abscesses in the tooth can form. Ouch!

2. Baby teeth have a biological clock, and serve several important functions until the permanent teeth come in. Baby teeth serve to help your baby/toddler learn how to chew solid foods! Imagine your two-year-old child being confined to only soft foods because they don’t have the chewing capacity necessary for all the yummy healthy crunchy, chewy foods. They also reserve separate spaces in the jaw until the time the permanent teeth come in. Premature loss of baby teeth can cause issues with jaw and teeth alignment later on.

3. Money. Tooth decay must be treated. Procedures that are performed to treat tooth decay vary by severity of the decay but range from partial fillings, to root canals or even tooth extraction.

Save your child the pain, save the spaces in your child’s jaw, and save your wallet the cost.

Why Is It Sometimes Called Bottle Rot?

The term “Bottle Rot” comes from the decay of your baby or toddler’s teeth from the extended exposure the teeth have to sugary drinks such as milk, formula, and juice in bottles (or sippy cups). The extended exposure happens when you allow your child to toddle around with a bottle drinking a bit here and there as they want throughout the day, or when you put your baby or toddler down for naptime or bedtime and a bottle in the bed with them.

If your child needs a bottle with them to go to sleep, we urge you to fill it only with water. If your child likes to have a bottle or sippy cup with them throughout the day, again, fill it only with water. Try to contain any drinks that aren’t water to be drank all at once, instead of slowly and periodically over the course of the day.

Another source of baby teeth decay can come from dipping pacifiers in honey, or something sugary. Pacifiers should be regularly cleaned and put in the mouth only when absent of any food or drink product.

Symptoms and Signs of Bottle Rot/Baby Teeth Decay

The first signs of baby teeth decay may be difficult for you to detect, unless you are watching for them. If you see little white spots along their gum line, it could be the beginning stages of baby teeth decay. If you determine your little one has pain or tooth sensitivity, those symptoms could also indicate baby teeth decay. More obvious signs of baby teeth decay mean the decay has progressed to a more significant degree and would include brown or black discoloring of the teeth, or bleeding gums. Fever and bad breath are other symptoms of a more significant degree of bottle rot.

How to Prevent Cavities or Baby Teeth Decay

1. Before your baby’s first tooth comes in, get them acquainted with the idea of dental hygiene by gently cleaning their gums after nursing, bottle feedings, and/or meal times. Use a wet soft washcloth to wipe gently with your finger.

2. Once the first tooth breaks through, use a soft baby tooth brush and a tiny bit of fluoride toothpaste to brush. Start the daily habit of brushing two times per day right away! Habits are formed by repetition.

3. Is your water fluoridated? If you don’t know, call your water utility company to ask. If it is not, talk to your pediatric dentist to determine if fluoride treatments or a fluoride varnish are appropriate. If you want more information about why fluoride is important for your child’s dental health, read our blog post “Why is Fluoride Important to My Child’s Dental Health” by following this link.

4. Start pulling away from bottles and sippy cups and teach your toddler to drink from a cup. Bottles and sippy cups allow the drinking liquid to congregate in and around the teeth. Drinking from cups also has the added advantage that they can’t be carried everywhere without spilling and are therefore more likely to be drank quickly and in one sitting.

5. Limit sweet, sticky foods. The sweets and stickies may be fun to eat, but are bad for their teeth. We wrote a blog post all about “Do-Eats and Don’t-Eats for Kids to Promote Healthy Teeth” that you can read by following this link. Healthy eating habits should be started early, but by the same token, it’s never too late to start!

6. Limit or eliminate sugary drinks. As referenced above, sweet and sugary drinks are a major force in baby tooth decay. If you don’t want to eliminate them entirely (or can’t because your little one is drinking formula) limit them to mealtimes and serve only a small amount. (The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends diluting the juice to half water and serving no more than 4oz per day).

To hear what our pediatric dentist Dr. Jason Horgesheimer has to say about fixing baby teeth, watch our video:

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We say it every time we see you in our offices, and we’ll keep saying it. Prevention is important! Prevention is possible! Daily morning and night habits of brushing teeth and flossing at least once per day, are essential to your child’s dental well-being.

Pediatric Dental Services in Utah: Sedation Dentistry, and More

by databot | Mar 12, 2020 | Children's Oral Health, Pediatric Dental Treatments

Pediatric patients are special. Unique. It is not the same job to perform dental treatments on people who are grown and able to tolerate sitting for long periods and sometimes undergoing uncomfortable dental work verses, pediatric dental patients.

Children, especially those who are very young or who have special needs, do not have that type of restraint that’s needed to easily sit still and tolerate dental work. From our sedation dentistry services to our TVs in the treatment rooms equipped with headphones and all, we go the extra mile to take the stress out of the dental experience for children.

All our dentists have earned special certification for working with only children. Come visit any of our locations to find the following types of pediatric dental services:

Routine Checkups

We believe that healthy lifelong dental habits start in childhood. In a routine checkup, we conduct examinations of the teeth and gums with gentleness and do cleaning when deemed necessary. We will discuss with you and your child how to properly brush and floss at home and explain it in an age-appropriate way to ensure success. We will make a recommendation on the frequency of checkups needed, tailored specific to each child.

Radiographs

Radiographs are commonly referred to as X-Rays. Radiographs of your children’s’ mouths are just as important as they are for adults. A growing child doesn’t only mean larger shirts, pants, and shoes. It also means a growing and changing mouth. Radiographs are a valuable tool in evaluating tooth health that may not be visible by our eyes alone. We will discuss whether there is a need to perform radiographs with you, based on your child’s unique needs.

Fluoride Varnishes

Fluoride is known to work in strengthening tooth enamel. Tooth enamel is assaulted daily by the sugars and acids in the foods and drinks that we consume. That is why we recommend using a fluoride toothpaste, drinking water that has fluoride, and fluoride varnishes. We can provide this dental treatment two to four times a year, depending on the needs of your child’s teeth. Go here for more information about fluoride varnishes and for a video of our Dr. Jason Horgesheimer as he discusses the benefits of this dental treatment.

Dental Sealants

Our teeth have natural grooves and valleys on their surfaces. These spots are attractive places for sugars and acids to hide from toothbrushes. Dental sealants are a common procedure we perform, and are prevention focused. A sealant is applied to cover these deep groves and valleys to prevent tooth decay in these hard-to-reach places on teeth. They will not be noticeable to anyone because the sealant matches the color of the tooth. The process of application of the sealants is also pain-free.

Mouthguards

Grinding teeth can be a normal part of the process as new molars are preparing to push through in your child’s mouth. If you have concerns let us know. We can assess for damage or wear and tear on the teeth. Typically, only in severe cases do we recommend a mouthguard.

Composite Fillings

Cavities happen despite our best efforts sometimes. When they do, we’re here for you. For small to medium sized cavities, we can repair the tooth, after removing the cavity, with a composite filling. For our composite fillings, we use a composite resins mixture. These resins are a combination of plastics and silica. Our composite fillings are discreet because they will match the color of the tooth.

Pulpotomies

When cavities or tooth decay have been left too long untreated, they may penetrate through the enamel and into the “pulp” of the tooth. This is the part of the tooth where the nerves are clustered. It is not uncommon for cavities in primary teeth to reach the pulp of the tooth, when this happens your child will report a tooth ache. It is important to get in to see us if your child reports a tooth ache, because when a cavity reaches the pulp, the tooth can die if left untreated too long.

The pulpotomy involves making a hole in the enamel of the tooth to remove the infected pulp. A protective cap is then applied to protect whatever healthy pulp remains.

Dental Crowns

In cases where your child’s tooth is more badly damaged than a filling or pulpotomy can repair, we may decide a dental crown is the best dental treatment. A dental crown is a cap that has been formed into the shape of the tooth and placed over the tooth to prevent any further decay or damage to it. We typically recommend a porcelain crown if a front tooth is involved to make it less noticeable. We will often recommend a stainless-steel crown if capping a molar.

Frenectomy

Frenectomies are also called the tongue tie release or lip tie release. The maxillary frenectomy is where a piece of the tissue connecting the upper gums to the front teeth is removed. The Lingual frenectomy is where a piece of the tissue that connects the mouth floor to the underside of the tongue is removed. Frenectomies are often confused with frenotomies. Frenotomies are typically performed on newborn babies in cases of problems with latching for breastfeeding and involve a “snip” of the frenum. For more information on this topic, watch our video here.

Extractions

An extraction may be warranted if a primary tooth cannot fall out as it naturally should due to curved or over long roots. Additionally, extractions may be performed if a tooth is so decayed that it risks spreading the decay to the surrounding teeth.

In-Office Sedation

We take your child’s comfort and dental health seriously and pride ourselves on our ability to provide your children with a positive dental experience. Sometimes, a dental treatment may require in office sedation. Anxiety, or your child’s age may be a factor in determining whether they can cooperate for the treatment required. We offer four different sedation options to meet your child’s needs.

A pediatric specialist must complete an additional two-to-three years of training on top of the thorough training already completed in dental school. Yearly continuing education courses are also a requirement to ensure our specialists are up to date on the techniques and processes involved with sedation dentistry.

You can place your confidence in us because of our experience. We have collectively performed over 25,000 in office sedations in all our time as pediatric dentists serving the Salt Lake City area. In fact, we span far and wide with different locations in Bountiful, Taylorsville, Herriman, and Stansbury Park. Call us to learn more or schedule an appointment at one of these offices.