Healthy baby teeth are an essential part of the proper development of children's mouths. Taking good care of your child's baby teeth now may help reduce the or prevent the need for braces later on.
Baby teeth are crucial to children’s healthy development in many ways. Baby teeth allow children to eat and digest their food efficiently, and to speak properly too. These factors alone are sufficient reason to make taking good care of children's baby teeth a top priority for parents.
Baby teeth also play an important role in another more local area, however: the growth pattern of the permanent teeth. Baby teeth function as place holders and guides for the adult teeth as they erupt, making them an important factor when in whether or not a child will eventually need orthodontic treatment.
When baby teeth fall out to early (as the result, say, of decay or injury) the permanent teeth may erupt in the wrong positions, because there will be nothing there to guide their growth. This is why good oral hygiene and injury prevention (such as sports mouth guards, for instance) are just as important when your child has his or her baby teeth as it is when the permanent teeth come in.
Yes, they fall out eventually, but that doesn't mean they don't serve a very important purpose.
It’s never too early to start your child’s oral hygiene routine!
You can get into the oral hygiene routine of cleaning teeth and gums on a regular basis as soon as your child's baby teeth start to erupt. In fact, it can start even earlier than that: wiping your baby's gums with a damp cloth after meals can help reduce oral bacteria. And of course, teaching your child to brush and floss should start as early as possible, too.
If you child’s baby teeth do end up falling out too early, however, all is not lost. A dentist or orthodontist can prescribe a space maintainer to prevent the surrounding teeth from shifting into the wrong positions, so be sure to keep regular dental appointments and checkups for your child. That way, emerging permanent teeth will still have the necessary structure in place to grow in where they should.