Healthy Child, Healthy Mouth

Healthy Child, Healthy Mouth

We recommend that parents bring their children to KiDDS Dental as soon as that first baby tooth erupts. As dental professionals with special training to treat children, we know the importance of keeping up with dental care. Regular visits during childhood and adolescence help children form good dental care habits that ensure your children enter adulthood with healthy teeth and gums. But what happens if parents do not take their children to the dentist regularly?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 83% of children aged 2 to 17 years visited a dentist in 2014. Not surprisingly, it also estimated that 17.5% of children aged 5 to 19 years had untreated dental cavities. In fact, tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood illness. For children who do not get treatment, the consequences can be long-term, irreversible and have an impact beyond just oral health. Those consequences include

·         pain in the teeth and gums, affecting your child’s ability to eat well, sleep well and function well at school

·         tooth and gum infection that can lead to tooth loss and compromised self-esteem and social development

·         malnourishment, bacterial infections and emergency surgeries

In addition, recent research has linked dental disease to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, pneumonia, poor pregnancy outcomes and dementia.

The impacts on society are measurable as well. Dental disease leads to the loss of more than 51 million school hours each year in the United States, numbers that can translate into educational disparities and decreased productivity.

The good news: Most dental disease is preventable. Regular dental visits, along with regular brushing and flossing at home, can stop cavities and gum disease before they start, giving your child not just a healthy mouth but helping to give him or her a healthy body and mind, too.

If you have fallen behind with your child’s dental visits and dental hygiene, now is the time to get back on track and see Dr. Jared. Make an appointment with our office. We can assess your child’s oral health and help you instill solid dental hygiene habits going forward.

If you have questions about your child's oral health, click here to schedule an appointment with Dr. Jared. Or give us a call at (509)-891-7070.