Why Baby Teeth are Important

Many times, I come across this comment from the parents," Anyways He/ She would be losing this tooth, so why worry about saving it".

So, in this blog we will discuss how baby teeth are so important.

1. Social and emotional well-being: Having dental pain can affect child's eating habits, which may sometimes lead to malnutrition and affect the growth of the jaw bone in a certain way. Dental pain may hinder with child's ability to pay attention in school and may result in missing school and other social activities.

2. Baby teeth hold the space for the incoming permanent teeth. Just like if you were to pull a book from the bookshelf, the adjacent books start tipping or falling in that space, same way when a child is missing a baby tooth, the adjacent teeth move / tip into that space. This results in less room or no space for the incoming permanent tooth and thus resulting in crowded or misaligned permanent teeth. This may result in expensive braces treatment later in life.

3. The permanent tooth develops in the tooth follicle/ sac which is right under the baby tooth. If the baby tooth has a big cavity or infection with abscess it can spread to the follicle underneath and affect the permanent tooth bud and may damage the developing tooth even before it comes in the mouth.

4. Sometimes dental infections in children can spread to other parts of their body and even brain and can result in hospitalization and can even become life threatening.

It is very important that we as a parent/ Guardian do not ignore the health of our children's baby teeth and teach kids healthy eating, brushing, and hygiene habits.

Here at Hills dental we take care of kids and family as whole. We can assess your child's dental health and help him/ her have healthy teeth. Call 408-725-1536 or email us at info@hillsdentalgroup.com to schedule an appointment for your little one.