Whenever your baby feeds, saliva helps clean off residual milk from their teeth. However, when they are asleep, the rate at which saliva cleans off milk/food from the teeth is lower than when awake so it is important to make sure that your baby doesn’t have any food in his/her mouth when sleeping.
Most times when you insert the feeding bottle at night, the baby doesn’t finish the milk or beverage before falling asleep and so has milk in his/her mouth for a long period of time. When the conditions are conducive for the sugar loving bacteria, they start acting on the teeth to cause tooth decay. This type of decay is also known as baby bottle decay/early childhood decay.
Your baby may likely have decay if you notice:
- Unsightly brown spots on the teeth
- Tooth starts chipping off
- Pain if decay is not managed early
- Pus discharge from tooth which signifies infection.
Although baby bottle decay can affect other teeth, it occurs commonly on the upper front teeth. This is because the tongue covers the lower teeth during bottle feeding.
How to Prevent Baby Bottle Tooth decay
- Don’t leave feeding bottles in your baby’s mouth when sleeping.
- Remove all left over food such as biscuits when you notice your child has fallen asleep.
- Brush your baby’s teeth regularly.
- Visit the dentist as soon as you notice any changes in your child’s teeth.
Photo credit: Parents