Kids, like adults, often experience problems with their teeth. However, the problems kids experience are often very different from the ones adults experience. If you notice any of the following problems with your child's teeth, see a pediatric dentist. The solutions provided by a dentist are usually quite simple.
Losing Teeth Early
Kids, eager to get "tooth fairy money," will pop their teeth out early. If you notice that your child is attempting to remove a lot of his/her teeth before they are ready to come out on their own, there are a couple of approaches you can take.
- Tell your child that the tooth fairy only pays for teeth that come out when the time is right. If your child continues to pull his/her teeth out, stop giving them tooth fairy money. Remind them what you said about removing teeth too soon and what would happen if they kept pulling teeth. This should help.
- Ask your dentist for something that will help hold the spaces where the missing teeth were pulled. It is important that spaces be held for the teeth that were pulled too soon, or your child's mouth and oral development will be skewed.
It may help to devise a plan of action that rewards your child for leaving the teeth alone, too. You can create any story you like around this extra reward, if that helps.
Teeth That Refuse to Erupt (and Other Missing Teeth Issues)
There is not much that is not scarier than a child with gaps in his/her mouth as he/she heads into the teen years. Still having baby teeth at this time is also terrifying, but most parents wonder if their children pulled one too many teeth when adult teeth take a long time to erupt. A simple visit to the pediatric dentist's office and one full, panoramic x-ray later may reveal that your child's adult teeth are just taking their time to erupt. The x-ray may also reveal issues that prevent the adult teeth from coming in, such as impaction. Sadly, the x-ray can reveal that there is no adult tooth there because your child over-zealously pulled it out.
Bottle Mouth
Bottle mouth is a condition created when parents put their infants and toddlers to bed with a bottle or sippy cup. Milk, formula, and juice are to blame, but the worst is juice. As such, baby teeth erupt deformed and half rotten. Your child's dentist can seal and coat these teeth to prevent total loss, but the bottle or cup in bed has to stop.
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