Risk of tooth decay begins with your child’s first baby tooth. And keeping your child’s teeth healthy and maintaining good oral habits is often easier said than done for many parents, so it’s good to have a plan. And that plan should include getting your child used to visiting a dentist early before all their baby teeth arrive.
That’s a big reason why we offer complimentary baby well dental visits for kids between the ages of 1 to 3.
The 5 Benefits of a Baby Well Dental Visit
Sitting in a chair, going up and down, by themselves, or on your lap our, baby well visits provide the following benefits:
- Help your child get acclimated (and comfortable) to visiting a dentist.
- Get lots of dental tips for parents – brushing and more!
- Examine any teeth coming in for issues.
- Help develop good oral health habits.
- Create a fun first visit memory!
Why Healthy Baby Teeth are Important
Even though the tooth fairy will eventually see all 20 of your child’s baby teeth, these teeth actually do play an important role in your child’s lifelong oral health, even if they aren’t permanent. How?
- They lead the path for their permanent teeth to follow when they start coming in. Think of them as natural space maintainers for the permanent teeth. If your child loses a tooth too early, this can cause a permanent tooth to come in crooked or crowd out another tooth.
- They help your child chew properly.
- They help with speech development.
- They need to be protected – Dental decay in baby teeth can increase the risk of decay in their permanent teeth (the health of your child’s baby teeth can affect the health of their permanent teeth.
Following the Baby Well visit, parents can start scheduling regular exams. Annual check-ups and regular at-home oral care will help ensure that your child’s teeth and gums stay as healthy, and cavity free, as possible! What about teeth cleaning? We recommend that your child’s first teeth cleaning should be around three years of age, or when they can sit reasonably still for a short period of time.
Keep your child’s baby teeth healthy and on track for bigger things – schedule a baby well visit for your child, please call us at(206) 524-1000 or reach out to us online!