5 Tips To Protect Your Child's Teeth Enamel

Teeth enamel is basically the source of protection that your teeth have from outside forces. They effectively work as your teeth's armor or kevlar. No time in your life, however, is the protection of your teeth more necessary than during childhood. During childhood, making sure your teeth are protected means your adult teeth will grow in healthy and safe, your gums are protected and won't fall victim to disease and your teeth will grow in nice and straight. As such, it is imperative as a parent or guardian that you help your child take care of his or her teeth. Throughout the course of this brief article are 5 tips on how to protect your child's teeth enamel.

Infants

Washing Away Formula

As an infant, the entirety of a child's teeth care will be your responsibility. One of the first things you might notice about your infant's teeth is that they will be, at times, covered in a whitish film. This is due to baby formula. Due to the sugar content in baby formula, this film can cause enamel decay. It is recommended that after feeding your child such formula, that you also give them water. Water can serve as a way to flush away this whitish film and water can hydrate the baby's mouth, improving the condition of the enamel.

Cleaning An Infant's Mouth

Using a small piece of gauze, approximately 2" x 2", wipe down your infant's gums and inner cheeks. This is the most effective way of preserving the character of a child's teeth enamel. Many parents believe that, if they cannot see teeth present in the child's mouth, there is nothing to worry about regarding cleaning them. Infant's teeth can be quite deceptive and the fact of the matter is that many children begin growing teeth as early as 2 months old and these teeth are not always perceptive to a parent's naked eye.

Do Not Let Infants Use Milk Bottles For Extended Periods Of Time

Although milk bottles can be quite helpful for many infants, as this will encourage independent behavior at a young age and can be relatively helpful with the teething process, allowing children to use milk bottles for extended periods of time while unattended can be harmful to a child's teeth, especially in environments such as the crib, where suckling on a bottle can allow milk pools to sit in a child's mouth, damaging their incoming teeth.

Ages 1 – 4

Between the ages of 1 and 4, your child will begin to grow teeth in a very robust manner. By the time that he or she is 4, the child should have 20 teeth. 10 teeth per each row. During this time, it is imperative that the child's teeth be taken care of, ensuring that the enamel stays at healthy as it possibly can. The enamel of the teeth will serve many different functions, from protection to aiding in chewing. As a child will lack the fine motor skills to do so, it is recommended that the parent brush the child's teeth at least three times a day.

Ages 5 – 8

At these ages, a child should be able to take care of his or her own teeth. It is imperative that you teach the child how to clean his or her own teeth, as well as how to floss. By teaching your child how to take care of his or her own teeth, you are ensuring a lifetime of care of which they will exhibit towards their enamel and rest of their oral hygiene.

Oral hygiene is very important for children from the very day they are born. Oral hygiene can help improve the strength of a child's enamel, which acts as the very foundation of protection from outside forces that serve to decay teeth. Take your children to a pediatric dentist regularly for check ups, X-rays and cleanings.