Dentists at Pymble Make your Baby Smile Dental Hygienist Leah Gardiner Portrait ImageThere are so many good reasons to keep your baby’s teeth and gums healthy.

  • Chewing food for healthy nutrition.
  • Speech and pronunciation
  • Happy sparkling smiles
  • Preventing decay in baby teeth early will ensure a positive dental experience later.

Here’s how to care for those little chompers

  1. Oral hygiene for baby’s

Your baby’s oral hygiene should begin just after birth. Following each feed, take a warm, moist, soft washer and wipe your baby’s gums free of any residual milk. Once your baby’s primary teeth start to erupt around the age of 6 months you may choose to switch to a baby’s soft bristle toothbrush, brushing with water only.

  1. When should your child start using toothpaste?

Around the age of 2, introduce a low fluoride infant’s toothpaste. Use a pea size amount under supervision. At this age your child should learn how to spit, avoid giving water to swish and spit because this might make swallowing toothpaste more likely.

  1. Avoid sharing saliva with your baby

The environment of an adult’s mouth is very different to that of a baby’s mouth. Sharing spoons to taste baby food, or sucking dummies to clean them, can transfer decay causing bacteria to your child. Try to keep a separate baby spoon available and wash a dropped dummy under water.

  1. Preventing cavities

Dentists at Pymble Make your Baby Smile Dental Hygienist Leah Gardiner - Smiling Baby ImageCavities happen when bacteria and food are left on teeth after eating and are not brushed away. Acid collects on a tooth, softening its enamel until a hole or cavity forms. Here’s how to keep cavities away!

  • Start good oral hygiene habits early
  • Low sugar diet
  • Avoid regular snacking
  • Get enough fluoride to strengthen the enamel. Ask your dental professional.
  • Regular visits to the dentist.
  1. Visiting the dentist for the first time

Its recommended that children see a dentist by their first birthday. At this first visit, its all about familiarising your child with dental surroundings and promoting a positive experience. At this age a dental chair ride, a cuddle with some of our soft toys and a bag of goodies would be a great start.  Come in and see us at Dentists @ Pymble so we can start looking after your children’s dental health.

Written by our hygienist Leah Gardiner.

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