NURSING BOTTLE CARIES.... ( How bottle feeding paves way for caries)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. M. Y. Padmanabhan) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:38:00 +0000

Well you would have been a little surprised when you saw this title for the first time... How bottle feeding can cause decayed teeth?? Read ahead...

Nursing caries, or tooth decay, can be caused by children sleeping with bottles. This is also called baby bottle tooth decay. It is caused when a child goes to bed with a bottle filled with milk or juice - anything except water. It usually affects children between the ages of 1 and 2 years. Breastfed infants who fall asleep while breastfeeding are also at risk.

How do I know whether my child is developing Nursing Bottle Caries?

The following are the most common ways in which nursing caries manifests. However, each child may experience symptoms differently. The major symptoms are-

white opaque spots on the teeth
early development of cavities (brown areas on the tooth that lead to tooth destruction)
progressive loss of tooth structure (leading to pain)

How can I prevent my child's teeth from getting lost due to nursing bottle caries?

The following are suggestions to help prevent nursing caries:

Never let your child fall asleep with a bottle of anything other than water! Milk, fruit juice, formula, or sweetened liquids contain sugars and can cause dental caries
reduce as much as possible the frequency of sweetened drinks and foods. Don't let your child use a sweetened pacifier or feeding bottle always, carrying it around taking one sip every now and then.
Wean your child from the bottle a the appropriate time.
Right after every feed, wipe your child's gums and inside of the cheeks, roof of the mouth and tongue with a clean damp gauze pad or cloth. As soon as the teeth begin erupting, continue proper dental care by brushing them with a soft-bristled brush. You can start using toothpastes once the child crosses his second age of life.
If you notice any white or stained areas in your baby's teeth, see a pediatric dentist.
Initiate fluoride therapy, as recommended by your Pediatric Dentist.
Schedule early dental visits for your child, at least by six months of age (once the first tooth erupts into the oral cavity)

EARLY CHILDHOOD DENTAL CARIES

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. M. Y. Padmanabhan) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:49:00 +0000

Ever since in pediatric dental practice, the major question I am confronted with from many parents are-

".... doctor why is it my child's teeth gets decayed at a greater rate when compared to my neighbour's son.... inspite of he brushing properly!!!???...... in fact I've limited my child's sweet intake too..... "
".... i just feed my little one with high calorie milk.... but still the teeth get tinted brown... and gets deayed and........"
"..... well you see John isn't listening to me at all..... he keeps eating these toffees regularly and these toffees melt his teeth away ( oh really!!!???)..... "

Well, so I felt its high time we set things straight... The first and foremost thing one needs to know is how the dental decay ( better called as- dental caries) begins in your child's teeth...

Dental caries results as an interplay of three things as I've portrayed in this simple picture.

The food which we eat gets entangled between the tooth and may remain there for a greater period of time when not cleaned properly. These food particles then become the source of nutrition for the microbes which act upon them. This results in fermentation of these food particles, which results in the formation of acid as a by-product. These acids tend to dissolve the tooth structure and hence a cavity is formed which progresses towards the center of the tooth.

Thus all these three factors-

food substances with increased caries potential
retention of food between certain places within the tooth structure
presence of microorganisms in the mouth

need to be addressed properly, so that your kids can enjoy a "cavity free" set of teeth... Sounds interesting???!!!! Well read ahead I ll tell you how you can tackle each of these three issues, thereby preventing you from shelling those extra dollars and pounds in your dentists office....

Today we shall talk about factor number 1-
CARIOGENIC FOODS ( foods with increased potential to cause caries)

Contrary to the popular belief it is not that only sugars or sugar containing foods which cause dental caries. Foods rich in carbohydrates and fats which have the potential to yield acid on bacterial fermentation are all cariogenic ( cario- cavity, genic- forming). Then does it mean that we stop eating all carbohydrates???

Definitely no. One main reason these carbs and sweets are cariogenic is because they are soft in consistency, which make them remain stuck to the tooth surface for a longer period of time. Let it be the toffees, candies, icecreams and even rice and bread; once these food substances are chewed, they may remain firmly attached to your child's tooth.

Hence it is very necessary, that you avoid these food particles from remaining stuck in your child's tooth. So it is always a wise practice to-

ensure that your child rinses his/her mouth thoroghly after every meal/snack.
for very young children with just tooth erupting it is fine if you can neatly swab the tooth surface with wet cotton to cleanse the area, (even after feeding milk- WHY?? read post on "baby bottle caries"
it is a wise habit to consume raw fruits/vegetables ( with higher fibre content) which will automatically cleanse the tooth surface of sticky foods.
if your child is still adamant about sweets ( most of the chidren really are!!!!) then see to it that they have their pastries/toffees along with the food or just before the food, so that the sticky sweet stuffs get cleansed automatically while eating ( isnt that a novel idea!!!)

Well this is how you counter or rather nullify the cavity forming tendency of snack items....

Continue reading my posts for articles on the other two factors and nursing bottle caries.

PEDIATRIC DENTAL HEALTH CARE

NURSING BOTTLE CARIES.... ( How bottle feeding paves way for caries)

EARLY CHILDHOOD DENTAL CARIES