One of the first bureaucratic procedures that parents carry out is to register newborns in the health system so that they can access pediatric care. But did you know that this is the ideal age to prevent some specific health problems? Specifically, a first visit to the pediatric dentist will help you lay the foundations of good oral health for your little one. With the appearance of the first milk teeth, a specialist is capable of detecting the need to treat vital aspects such as chewing, phonation or breathing, which will influence the correct development of your children in the short term.
The children's mouth is a part of the body that is sensitive to multiple alterations that, in most cases, can be corrected within the family without great effort. A pediatric dentist will be in charge of providing you with a diagnosis and the necessary tools to mitigate, for example, the impact of cavities. The monitoring and care of temporary teeth is extremely important so that children do not carry this type of pathology to their final teeth.
The ideal age to go to the dentist for the first time is between the appearance of the first milk tooth and the first year of the baby's life. However, according to Doctor Víctor Cambra, director of Cambra Clinic Nens, taking the child before teething allows an assessment of other aspects of the oral cavity. That is why a patient with a short tongue-tie can be assessed and treated jointly by a lactation consultant and a pediatric dentist to promote this process.
Children also have specific problems, risk factors, and treatments. 1 in 3 children under the age of six have cavities and only 25% of those who present them receive timely treatment, according to data from the General Council of Spanish Dental Associations. Consequently, children with this problem are at greater risk of developing cavities as adults. The pediatric dentist will give you the guidelines for the prevention and care of these cavities, such as choosing the right toothbrush and paste, or the use of dental floss. “The most frequent cavities in children are between the teeth and for them to be detected at an early stage an x-ray must be performed by the health professional”, points out Doctor Cambra.
Sugar consumption is another factor that can influence the need for a visit to the pediatric dentist. Children ingest most of the sugar from foods such as cookies, cereals, yogurts or juices, which can be highly harmful to their dental health. Defects in the enamel or salivary flow can also affect the appearance of cavities and can be reviewed by a professional.
Having a professional who performs comprehensive monitoring of the child's oral health will allow you to prepare your teeth for tomorrow. Poor care of milk teeth can affect the positioning of the pieces or the growth of the jaw bones, so the advice of a pediatric dentist from childhood will help children prevent these risks.
From the first consultation, it is recommended that children without oral problems visit the pediatric dentist every six months to carry out a hygiene check, while children with cavities or enamel defects may visit every 3 or 4 months, depending on the guidelines recommended by the professional.
