The Importance of Baby Teeth in Overall Oral Development

Baby teeth are the primary teeth that appear within your child’s mouth from around the age of six months old.

Although only a temporary factor in the long term composition of your baby’s mouth, they are never the less, an important stage in the growth of the child and as such, proper oral hygiene should be maintained from the moment they appear. Not only will this serve to keep the child’s mouth healthy from the off set, and therefore minimise any risk of problems to the gums later on, it also allows the child to learn from the youngest age, the importance and regularity with which oral hygiene should be approached.

It is important for the parent to be aware of the importance of their child’s primary teeth and to appreciate the consequences of not implementing rigorous hygiene from the very beginning.

Baby teeth are not immune to tooth decay and in spite of their temporary nature, they are of fundamental importance in the health and development of the surrounding gum and permanent teeth.

At age six most children have ample dexterity to start developing responsibility for his or her own oral hygiene, nonetheless, parents should check behind their child’s effort.

 

At age six, generally baby teeth start to be lost and replaced by erupting adult teeth.  The exfoliation of baby teeth progresses throughout the life of a child until about age 13 when usually all of the baby teeth have been lost and replaced by adult teeth. 

Baby teeth serve many important functions for a developing child:  chewing function and efficiency, appearance and self esteem, speech, enunciation and language development, and they hold a space in the mouth for the subsequent eruption of eventual adult teeth. 

Primary teeth essentially allow the adult teeth to find their way through the gum in the correct fashion, and as such, act as a guide for the final development of the mouth. For this reason, the importance of the care and upkeep of baby teeth should not be overlooked.

Here at our dental practice in Sacramento, we pride ourselves on looking after you and your whole family with the utmost care and attention to detail. It is because we want to see you go through life, free from the trauma of dental problems, from childhood through to your later years that we will always provide you with the necessary help and advice needed for your optimum dental health.

Author:

Dr Monica Crooks