Dental Caries in Kids
If you are looking for some medical interpretations and causes for caries from this blog, then let me tell you this is not the place. This purely from a non-medical perspective.
One of the most scariest things as a mother is to realize that your kids health is getting compromised. You feel dejected and sometimes blame our self for the cause.
I went to the same feeling when my son's teeth went from bad to worse with caries. There were many symptoms and we could have take proper medical care but we somehow did not realize it's importance till it was in a very bad state. We started running from one dental hospital to another and starring at a perspective of the treatment under GA(general anesthesia), it sent jitters inside me. I was heart broken. I wanted to put all my experience in this blog so that all the young mothers out there do not repeat the mistakes which I made.
Going to so many dentists for my son made me realize many things about dental care for kids which I was totally not aware of. No one gave me any pointers on this regard and which really made me and my kid suffer. So I have put some tips from all my experience here.
1. First and the most important thing is, please stop thinking that your kid just have milk teeth and anyhow they will fall off so no need to bother about cavities or any other dental problem. This was my biggest mistake!
True, kids have milk teeth and they will fall off but if proper care is not taken for the milk teeth there are chances that their permanent teeth too gets damaged, since these permanent teeth are just under their milk teeth ready to rupture out at proper age.
2. At early stage kids have the habit of drinking milk and sleeping with the milk in the mouth. This is bad for their gums and teeth. You should take a clean cloth make it wet with water and wipe off the milk from their teeth. This is the most important tip I learnt from the doctors which no one told me when my son was very young.
3. Even when the kids are 2-3 year old they will not brush properly, try to avoid brushing twice and many tantrums for brushing. But somehow they need to put into the habit of brushing twice a day.
4. Every kid loves sweets, chocolates. You cannot stop them from consuming it but you can definitely monitor how they are consuming it. Whenever they eat you should make it a point that they gargle properly and drink water once they are done eating.
I was very scared to give big chocolate or sweet to my kid, so I would give him little by little at different intervals. But this was totally wrong!
Giving sweets or any food all through the day increases the chances of cavities as the teeth are subjected to acid frequently.
Consuming a big chocolate at a time is much better then giving the same chocolate little by little all through the day.
5. If your kid has the habit of eating junk food, sweets then make it a point to club all the things along with the meal and then give him instead of giving one thing at a time.
6. Go for regular check up to dentist. This way you can nip the problem in the bud.
For my kid the damage had already been done. We were not able to decide what to do. He had already started complaining of tooth ache. There were two ways kids are treated either on the dentist's chair or through operation based on the co-operation from the child.
There are many pros and cons for both the treatment and we decided to go for the sitting treatment.
Finally his teeth were fixed and I am feeling very relieved.
Few links which I liked while looking about the information are below
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