Dental care and Hygiene often gets ignored in the very busy lifestyles that we lead. Whether its kids or adults, dental health needs equal attention, care, hygiene and maintenance at every age. While developing a routine schedule might seem difficult, it is just a matter of time and pro-activeness that will ensure your remain on it. As the saying goes, ‘Prevention is better than cure’. Here we have Dr. Varsha Daryanani advising us on how to go about caring for dental health for yourself, your kids and your family.
Preventive Dentistry starts with the arrival of the first tooth. A treatment specially meant for children is inexpensive and very effective in when it comes to dental care. A visit to your dentist will help in preventing cavities and gum diseases in the early years of life of your child. Regular visits to a pediatric dentist ensures efficient monitoring of good levels of oral hygiene all through his/her life.
Image Source:lakeshorefamilydentist.com
Preventive Dentistry includes a wide array of dental care activities and dental treatments like brushing, flossing, proper diet habits, oral care habits, required involvement of orthodontics and parents in the dental treatments, fluorides and sealants and more. A pediatric dentist is trained and can inform you about preventive dentistry.
Image Source: healthysmiles.com
The following are some points that you need to remember during pregnancy and the initial years of the baby.
- Avoid drugs during pregnancy and have a well-balance nutritious diet to ensure good health for yourself and the baby.
- Breast-feeding should stop after a year, especially during night hours. Use of pacifier should stop after two years to promote normal and natural growth of teeth.
- Thumb sucking must stop up to 4 years and start using fluoride supplements (drops and tablets) along with sealants as they act as vitamins that strengthen the enamel and sealants help in preventing cavities.
- Regular care and maintenance of oral hygiene must start right from the time of arrival of milk teeth as they form a strong base for permanent teeth. Any injury, infection or damage to the growth of milk teeth will affect the normal growth of permanent teeth.
Apart from the above mentioned tips, dental care can be more detailed with the following simple routines:
- It is recommended that your child brushes his teeth twice a day with a low fluoride toothpaste (if under 6 years of age) and a fluoride toothpaste (if above 6 years of age).
- From the age of 8 floss daily.
- Have regular visits to dentists for check-ups. Recommended every 6 months.
- Avoid sticky foods, sweets, beverages, aerated drinks. If your kid is into such drinks, make sure he/she uses a straw.
Inage Source: dental-tribune.com
Dental problems seem to be very common these days but can be prevented with equal ease and care with regularization and attention. Keep yourself updated with information from medical practitioners, internet and magazines and spread it among other parents, teachers as they are people who interact with the general population on a daily basis. As parents, who better than us would know how important “Prevention is better than cureâ€_x009d_.
If you have any queries for dental care for your kids or family, you can write to us in the comments below and we will be more than happy to get them resolved. You can keep yourself updated of Kidsstoppress through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram.
Dr. Varsha Daryanani is the proprietor of Crown Corner which is a state of the art Pediatric Dental clinic in South Mumbai. She is responsible for corrective as well as preventive treatment of her little patients. She carries this out with the correct pediatric approach and behaviour modification skills mastered through her experience of 9 years in this field, having consulted in several prestigious clinics in Mumbai. Additionally, she has extensive consulting experience, having worked in Rome for five years as a consultant pedodontist at three of the most prestigious dental clinics in Rome alongside renowned dentists such as Dr. Cannavo, Dr. Bazzucchi and Dr. Pavone.
Dr. Varsha has completed her Bachelor’s of Dental Surgery degree from Nair Hospital (Mumbai) in 2001 and further gone on to obtain a Masters in Pediatric Dentistry at La Sapienza University from Rome in 2005, Italy. She is also currently pursuing her PHD in dental sciences from the same university. She has authored some articles in the European Journal of Pediatric Dentistry and shared perspectives in leading dailies like The Times of India and La Repubblica Roma
Haya Asghar
Rati Ramadas Girish
Janani S Koushik
