What is the Purpose of Milk Teeth?
If the milk teeth are going to fall sooner or later, why sould you bother? Remember, milk teeth are helpful for the following reasons :
• To eat, to talk, to look good because the milk teeth are the foundation of face and jaw bones. Also help permanent teeth to come in their proper position.
• This set of milk teeth also protect permanent teeth from caries.
• As the children are innocent, milk teeth also guide the food passage smoothly.
• It also protects the surrounding soft tissues of the oral cavity.
Why we Have Two Sets of Teeth?
The mammals have vertebral column and are bestowed with jaw-bones having teeth embedded in it. Human beings are mammals and possess a wonderful feature. They are Dio-phyodont meaning having two sets of teeth. One set is milk set consisting of 20 teeth, 10 in upper jaw and 10 in lower jaw. They are temporary.
The second set is 32. 16 on each jaw. The milk or temporary set fall gradually and are totally replaced by the permanent teeth.
I Have no Pain in Teeth
When a layman is asked what he understands of “Dental health”, the most common answer is “I am free from Toothache”. This shows that as long as there is no toothache we don’t consult any doctor. This is to say that we don’t give so much importance to our teeth. We are not aware that teeth are helping us in a tremendous way. We only know that teeth are helping in chewing foods. It is often left unnoticed or ignored by the individuals and parents but also by the general practitioner. All people consult physician in case of any dental problem.
The physician gives him temporary relief. It is also true that we get O.K. then we are not bothered about the problems. The importance of dental health cannot be separated from general health. Sometimes the dental problems are related to general disease in the body. Dentist may be first to detect it. Hence the maintenance of dental health is very important in safeguarding general heatlh.
Pleasant Beginning
During pregnancy the mother is keenly aware of her responsibilities as an expectant mother and she usually welcomes information relating to the child care. After the pangs of labour is over, she is quiet and relaxed, eager to hear the sweet cry of the baby.
Start cleaning the oral cavity of your baby 7 days after birth. Surprised? Please wipe-out the oral cavity with clean and moistened cloth after every feeding, specially gum area.
After you have stopped breastfeeding which may be round about 20 months, never let your baby fall asleep sucking a bottle of sugar drink or even milk.This will cause caries in children teeth. The milk teeth erupt between 5 to 15 months. This is the time to clean teeth and gum as well.
You may be cleaning the teeth of your baby with a very soft brush or silk cloth gently so as not to injure soft tissue. Carry out this procedure till your baby is independent.
The plain water contains fluorides and the children drinking fluoridated water have less caries of teeth. Be careful, every place in India has different concentration of fluoride in drinking water. Please ask your physician or dentist.
After the age of 3 years, the importance of bringing the child to the dentist’s office for examination prior to any needed fillings is helpful. Also tell your dentist all the problems—any habit like thumb-sucking or lip sucking can be discussed.