Bottle tooth decay: what it is and how to prevent it in your baby. It is an infectious disease that attacks baby teeth very aggressively. It spreads very quickly.<\/p>\n
That’s why dentists call it “rampant caries”, although it is better known as “baby bottle caries”.<\/p>\n
It is an infectious disease that aggressively and quickly attacks the baby teeth of young children.<\/p>\n
In this article we will explain how to identify it, what causes it and, most importantly, how to prevent it.<\/p>\n
There are still those who underestimate the importance of baby teeth and think that it is not that serious that baby bottle decay attacks them since they will end up falling out to make way for the permanent teeth…<\/p>\n
Thinking this is a mistake.<\/p>\n
The child does not lose their milk incisors until they are 5 or 6 years old, and their molars until they are 10 or 12 years old, so they need to have them healthy to eat or speak correctly.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the infections suffered by these baby teeth are transmitted to the permanent dentition, and the former even guide the latter to erupt correctly.<\/p>\n
Therefore, it is essential to prevent bottle tooth decay in baby teeth for the child’s current and future good oral health.<\/p>\n
How to detect it The most obvious symptom of bottle tooth decay is the appearance of white spots on the teeth, especially the upper front teeth.<\/p>\n
These spots end up darkening until they become yellowish or blackish.<\/p>\n
The most common cause of this type of tooth decay is prolonged and frequent exposure of a child’s teeth to drinks containing sugar.<\/p>\n
In fact, “baby bottle decay” is given this name because it appears, above all, in children who tend to sleep with their pacifiers impregnated with sugary substances (honey, jam, condensed milk, etc.) or who drink milk or juice from a bottle.<\/p>\n
When this happens, sugars easily accumulate on the teeth, forming a bacterial plaque that finds a favorable environment to attack during the night: less saliva flow and, therefore, more unprotected enamel, and many hours to act and grow rapidly.<\/p>\n
However, there are other factors that promote the appearance of rampant caries: Poor oral hygiene.<\/p>\n
A baby’s gums should be cleaned from birth, at least once a day, with a damp gauze, and preferably after each feeding.<\/p>\n
With the appearance of the first milk tooth (approximately around 6 months), we must start hygiene with an ultra-soft toothbrush and without toothpaste, in the morning and at night.<\/p>\n
Frequent consumption of carbohydrates, especially between meals.<\/p>\n
Early colonization of caries.<\/p>\n
In general, tooth decay bacteria are transmitted by the parents themselves through saliva: when they put the baby’s spoon in their mouth, when they suck on their pacifier to clean it… The longer this infection is delayed, the better.<\/p>\n
What to do to prevent it Fortunately, the good news is that bottle tooth decay can be prevented by controlling the risk factors we have mentioned.<\/p>\n
It is key that, as parents, we are aware and always clean our baby’s mouth after each feeding, and be very careful not to put him to sleep with a pacifier or bottle nipple impregnated with substances with high cariogenic potential.<\/p>\n
Of course, it is highly recommended that the baby’s first visit to the dentist be made between the first 6 and 12 months of life to identify and control possible problems in time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categoria":[71],"class_list":["post-2698","actualitat","type-actualitat","status-publish","hentry","categoria-pathologies"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinicacervera.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/actualitat\/2698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinicacervera.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/actualitat"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinicacervera.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/actualitat"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinicacervera.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinicacervera.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categoria","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinicacervera.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria?post=2698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}