MOTHER AND CHILD CARE
(MAMTA KA AANGAN)

Children’s smiles are heartwarming and innocent. What if the teeth peeping from behind the smile are decayed?  Most parents believe that one can start looking after their children’s teeth only after they get their permanent teeth; but care of the baby’s teeth should actually begin before the child’s birth.  

Question: How can the mother do to ensure that the child has good teeth before the child is born?
Answer: The mother should take calcium rich foods such as milk and bananas during her pregnancy. Most doctors also prescribe calcium tablets for pregnant women. Another precaution is to avoid unprescibed medications during pregnancy. Tetracycline is an example; if the mother takes tetracycline when pregnant, the child’s teeth are permanently stained when they appear.

Question: What are the problems faced by children during teething? 
Answer: It is commonly believed that children have diarrhoea as a consequence of teething. This is untrue. The diarrhoea occurs during teething because babies’ gums have are irritated during this time, and this makes them pick up objects to chew on. If these objects are not clean, the child may get an infection resulting in diarrhoea, fever, etc. Cleanliness and hygiene are thus important when children are teething.

Question: How do children get dental caries or tooth decay?
Answer: To understand this, let us first understand the internal structure of teeth. Teeth are made up of three layers.  The outermost protective layer is called ‘enamel’, which is followed by ‘dentine’ and the innermost layer is the ‘pulp’, which contains the blood vessels. The acid that collects after eating causes damage to the outermost layer. This is then infected by microorganisms, which spread to make a cavity in the tooth. The tooth may even have to be removed if the tooth is decayed badly.

Question: Why is it important to treat dental infections promptly?
Answer: Dental infections could spread to other parts of the body and cause adverse effects. It is therefore important that any dental problem should be attended to immediately.

Question: Children often break their teeth while playing. What should be done for a child with a broken tooth?
Answer: The first step to take is to stop the bleeding. This can be done by applying pressure to the site of bleeding or by applying ice there. The next step is to save the tooth. This can be done by preserving the tooth either in milk or water till the child can be taken to the dentist. The child should be taken to a dentist as soon as possible.

Question: Children often have malpositioned teeth. What are the reasons for this?
Answer: Sometimes, children loose their milk teeth before time or have them removed for medical reasons. A ‘space maintainer’ should be used to maintain the gap left by such teeth—and if this is not done, they can have malpositioned teeth. Another reason for malpositioned teeth is the habit of thumb sucking in children.

(See section on Thumb-sucking on this website)

Question: Many parents believe it is OK to let the children with milk teeth have chocolates, sweets, etc. and let their teeth decay since they will get new permanent teeth anyway. Is this right?
Answer: No, infected and decayed milk teeth can adversely affect permanent teeth too. Teeth get decayed because of unclean habits, and so cleanliness should be started and maintained as soon as the first tooth erupts. It is most important to teach the children to brush in the morning as well as at night.

Question: What is the right method of brushing teeth?
Answer: The upper teeth should be cleaned with brush strokes from above downward, and the lower from teeth should be cleaned with strokes from below upwards. The teeth should be clean from the outer as well as the inner side so that all the small particles stuck in between the teeth are cleaned and the enamel is not damaged.

Question: What kind of brushes should be used for children?
Answer: Children’s brushes should have small and soft bristles.

Question: What is the importance of using a toothpaste with fluoride?
Answer: Fluoride forms a protective layer around our teeth and protects them from damage, but only if it is present in the right quantity. If this quantity is exceeded, the teeth may be damaged. It is therefore important that the right quantity of fluoride is used for children.

Question: How can parents ensure that children use the right quantity of fluoride?
Answer: The amount of toothpaste used by children should equal to the size of a small pea. Parents should also ensure that children do not swallow toothpaste while brushing. The children should also be made to rinse their mouths thoroughly after brushing.

Question: What steps can parents take to prevent dental diseases in children?
Answer: 1. A balanced diet is most essential for healthy teeth. Children should have plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products, (in non-vegetarians meat, fish, etc.). They should also be given fibre-rich food for strong teeth.

2. Some foods that are bad for teeth should be avoided. These include sweets, chocolates, wafers and foodstuffs that are likely to get stuck in between the teeth. All these provide a rich medium for growth of germs and so even if children do eat them, they should be made to rinse their mouths thoroughly after eating them.

3. Habit forming products made with tobacco like ‘gutka’; etc. should be totally avoided as they can cause oral cancer.

4.Children should be taken for dental check-ups every six months.

Question: Are there any specific dental treatments to prevent dental diseases?
Answer: Yes. Dental diseases can be prevented beforehand by treatments like application of fluoride gel. In this process, dentists clean the teeth, and apply a fluoride gel to the teeth and keep it for about 4 minutes. This provides extra protection to the teeth for about six months.

Another treatment is Pits-fissure sealing. A fluoride producing substance is applied on the teeth. The released fluoride forms a protective layer around the teeth; this also penetrates the space present in between the teeth and reduces the space. The teeth can thus be protected from damage and decay.

Here’s wishing you and your children decay-free smiles forever!