How Important Are Baby Teeth?

It is common knowledge that taking good care of your teeth is important to your oral and overall health, but is it just as important to take care of your children’s baby teeth? If they just fall out after a while, how crucial can it be to take them to their checkups at the dentist?

What Is the Purpose of Baby Teeth?

Just like adult teeth, baby teeth play a very big part in our lives. They develop at a young age, sometimes as early as 4 months. These teeth are smaller than the later, permanent ones, but they are just as important. Because of this, pediatric care is crucial for children before their adult teeth make an appearance.

Baby Teeth Are Building Blocks

Unlike adult teeth, baby teeth fall out naturally. This process often happens around the time the child is six years of age, and the teeth tend to fall out in the order they erupted.

These teeth come in strong and healthy, and although the process can cause some discomfort for the child, it is quick, and it leaves them with a set of baby teeth that lay the foundation of their adult teeth. In fact, it can mean the child’s jaw doesn’t have the proper space for the adult teeth that follow. If a child’s baby teeth aren’t taken care of and fall out prematurely, it can disrupt the entire life cycle of the permanent set of teeth. This can cause painful crowding, poor oral health, and excessive dental work down the road.

The Shape of Your Child’s Smile

Not only can missing teeth change the look and shape of someone’s face, it can also affect other aspects of a person’s life, too.

Baby Teeth Play More Than One Crucial Life Role

• Eating – Baby teeth help a child learn how to properly chew food. If some are missing, it can cause pain when eating as well as embarrassment as the child ages.
• Speech – Not only are missing teeth visible, but gaps left when teeth fall out change the way a person speaks. Baby teeth help a child’s speech.
• Self-confidence – Being unable to chew properly or having gaps of missing teeth when smiling can affect anyone’s self-confidence. While it is common to see children with gaps as their baby teeth are still coming in, as a child ages they need to learn how to use them. If their baby teeth decay and fall out, numerous self-confidence issues can arise.

Affiliated Dentists Offers Gentle Pediatric Care

There are many people who don’t think that a trip to the dentist constitutes a good time. They skip out on important check ups or treatment, causing more harm for their teeth down the road. Regardless of a person’s age, however, it is crucial to take care of one’s pearly whites, from baby teeth and all through adulthood.

Contact us at Affiliated Dentists to schedule important check ups your entire family today.