Children first grow milk teeth (from about 6 months), and later, from 5 to 14 years, they change - permanent teeth erupt. As soon as the first little tooth erupts, it must be cleaned. Special brushes that fit over a finger can be used for this, and toothpaste is not necessary. When there are more teeth, you need to buy a children's toothbrush and children's toothpaste with a safe amount of fluoride (1000 ppm, except in areas where there is a high fluoride content in the drinking water, in which case use 500 ppm). For children under 8, parents must help clean the teeth.

Many parents think that milk teeth do not need to be treated because they will fall out anyway. Unfortunately... they do need treating, because ignoring the damage caused by caries in children's teeth only leads to bigger problems with the teeth later. Untreated caries will cause toothache, harm the buds of the permanent teeth and weaken the child's immunity. Untreated, it also develops into inflammation of the tooth nerve (pulpitis). In that case, root-canal treatment will be unavoidable. And if a milk tooth is not treated in time and is lost too early, a lack of space appears in the dental arch and orthodontic treatment may later be needed.

A common form of caries in children is bottle caries.

Bottle caries is carious damage to milk teeth, the causes of which are various:

1. Feeding with sweet drinks before sleep (sweet tea, juice, sweet purees, etc.);
2. Feeding at night;
3. Dipping a dummy in honey or sugar and giving it to the child to calm them;
4. Bacteria can be passed on through the parents' saliva (transmission most often occurs through shared spoons or when cleaning the child's dummy);
5. Failure to maintain oral hygiene.

Symptoms:

• Soft teeth;
• Darkened teeth;
• Yellowish teeth.

Medical treatment:

The most important thing is to visit the paediatric dentist for preventive check-ups. Bottle caries detected in time is easier and more pleasant to treat. Treatment depends on the damage to the tooth (or teeth). If only the initial signs of bottle caries are found, at first the teeth are treated without drilling - the areas damaged by caries are coated with special materials (fluoride varnish). If the teeth are more affected by caries, then the carious cavity must be cleaned down to healthy tooth tissue, which requires more intensive treatment (drilling, filling).

After the examination or treatment, the paediatric dentist will give you all the information about the further course, care or treatment.