A child’s teeth are already developing before they are born. Humans have two sets of teeth. They have what are called “milk” teeth and permanent teeth. Having a dental insurance plan for your child is important because they will need check-ups and treatments throughout the years. Ensuring your kid sticks to the best dental care practices - routine checkups, proper brushing, and eating and drinking the right foods - is very important for your child’s dental health. Needless to say healthy teeth are very important for growing kids and below you will find tips on caring for your child’s teeth.

Your child’s teeth will not only affect their speech and smile, but the way they eat and their confidence in themselves. A child usually has 20 milk teeth that start breaking through the gums around 6 months old. The average child has all of their milk teeth by the age of three. By the age of 13 they usually have all of their permanent teeth.

The milk teeth are important for the proper development of permanent teeth. That is why it is very important to teach your child the best dental care practices from an early age. That way the children in your family learn to care for their teeth from an early age. Good dental health is reliant on preventing dental erosion and Tooth decay, which can damage your kids teeth; however, both dental erosion and decay are easily preventable. There are a variety of things you can do to help protect their dental health.

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

Baby bottle tooth decay means sleepless nights and a baby in pain

Did you know that babies and toddlers can get tooth decay before they have even got all of their teeth? That astounding fact is quite common because of how some put their little ones to bed.

The slippery slope to baby tooth decay starts when the baby has a bottle filled with a sweet juice or formula at bedtime. All the time the baby is sleeping, its new teeth are in constant contact with the sugars from the drink.

We know it is bad for our teeth to eat sugary foods and drink, so why in the world would you give them to a baby all night long. The poor baby is going to be in agony as decay sets in and the parent will have many sleepless nights.

How to prevent baby bottle tooth decay

There are some easy logical ways to prevent a baby from getting tooth decay.

• Do not give the baby anything except water in its bottle at bedtime
• Do not dip the dummy in anything that contains honey or sugar
• Clean their teeth after each meal by wiping with a cloth or gently brushing
• Teach the child to drink from a cup by 9 to 12 months old

Get your child registered with your dentist and onto your dental insurance plan after the first tooth comes and certainly by its first birthday.

Follow These Steps And Your Baby Will Have Healthy Teeth For Life

One very important thing to do is to make sure you take your child to the dentist regularly. To make visiting the dentist easier on your child, parents should try to take their kids with them when going for dental checkups at the dental clinic. Even if your child is very young you should bring them along with you to let them get familiar with the people at your local dental surgery.

To prevent dental decay and erosion you should limit the amount of sugary foods and drinks your children consume. Parents also want to encourage their kids to brush twice a day. Another thing is to make sure that they are using toothpaste that has at least 1,000ppm of fluoride*. You can also ask your dentist about other protective treatments, including taking fluoride supplements.

The cost of dental visits, let alone dental procedures, has risen to an all-time high. As the NHS struggles to survive, the demand for private dental health care is rising rapidly. With an increased demand for private dental care comes increase in dental prices from private dental practices. The smartest thing to do is to have a dental insurance plan which covers your whole family. A dental plan that allows subscribers to access both NHS and private dental care and caters for the entire family in one policy is a good choice. Your child’s teeth are very important and have a major impact on their health and self esteem, so investing in dental health insurance like this is a worthwhile expenditure.

* Parents must decide for themselves on how they wish to approach the issues of fluoride. Consult your dentist on this issue, we do not intend this blog posting to be construed as advice, merely information to guide parents so that they may ask more informed questions on how to get the best dental health care possible. It is down to parents to ask the right questions when they speak to their dentist.