Baby Teeth Are Important Too

Though most believe baby teeth are simply space holders for the adult teeth that come later in life, they actually play a much more important role.

These first teeth are not only key to your child's chewing ability but they also affect cognitive, and psychosocial development, and the rates of children experiencing baby tooth decay is going up in all age groups of preschool children.

These baby teeth are in children's mouths until they are 12 or 13 years old, and anything that happens to them, will affect the teeth that follow. Experts believe a better term is primary teeth, considering.

So just how can bad primary teeth affect your child?

Children with tooth decay weighed about 2 pounds less than those without. Likely because it is very painful to eat with these sorts of teeth, so children simply avoid it. With treatment however, children experiencing this can catch up.

Problems like this also results in children missing school in order to attend dental appointments. Pain also makes it difficult to concentrate.

In addition bad teeth can lower one's self esteem. Most of the parents reported that their children avoided smiling, or would opt-out when it came to playing with other children.

Baby teeth are needed in order to maintain a space for adult teeth which are double the size. This is why a lot of space between teeth is ideal in young children. Someone with tightly spaced baby teeth will be orthodontic in the future.

When primary teeth are lost, there are still options. Space maintenance bands and loops. The remaining adjacent tooth is covered with a metal cap and the space is occupied with an open metal loop to retain the space and later allow the secondary tooth to come in. A distal shoe is another choice. The shoe is a metal clip that extends into the soft tissue to help guide a molar into the right space.

The best tool however is prevention, so start brushing as soon as you see a tooth. You will not need to use toothpaste however until after the age of two. If you don't brush your toddler's teeth yet, then now is a good time to make it a priority. If you notice a cavity forming on your toddler's tooth, put some toothpaste on it and leave it there.