Some parents ignore their children’s dental health because they feel they will lose their baby teeth anyway. This is a wrong belief as the baby teeth play an important role in feeding which ensures the child has the required nutrients to help him/her grow and stay healthy. The baby teeth is also vital for the alignment of the permanent teeth.
It is recommended that your child visits the dentist by his or her first birthday(1 year old). This is about 6 months after the first tooth comes out.
Your child’s first dental visit is to get him or her familiar with the dental clinic. Children who are familiar with the dental clinic are often cooperative and express less fear when being treated at a much later stage.
Benefits
- Parents can learn how to better care for their child’s teeth such as learning how to brush and the type and amount of toothpaste to use.
- Healthy eating habits can be encouraged such as allowing the child get used to taking fruits instead of sweets.
- Unhealthy habits can be discouraged: habits such as leaving feeding bottles/sweets in the baby’s mouth while sleeping could result in tooth decay(baby bottle decay).