Preventing Feeding Bottle Dental Decay

Despite achieving success preventing dental decay since recently, it is still a considerable menace among children. Dental decay can initiate early and in fact, one may not be able to even locate and aid to avert it from the time the child first commences teething.

Dental rot is induced by microbes (germs) which locate a place in the carbohydrates to build up on the child's teeth. Germs require three things to thrive - food, water and warmth – everything found plenty in child’s mouth. Over the time, these microbes soften the outer layer or the enamel of the tooth. The area so damaged ultimately becomes hollow and is termed a cavity.

First time teeth are usually referred to as baby teeth or milk teeth which start first to show up during the child’s gums between the 4th and 6th months. Until the entire 20 dentition show up, the teething lasts when the children are generally just about 2 years old. Dentition is a key landmark in the child’s development but quite often, it is a painful one too. The primary teeth’s eruption, or teething, can form sore and the tender gums appear red and swollen. To combat this menace the baby can be given a cold teething ring or a damp soft material to chew. My mother usually gave me cold carrot sticks for sucking.

If you bottle-feed you have to be more careful of dental decay normally called baby bottle dental decay. One of the reasons bottle-fed children have more tendency to dental decay compared to breastfed children is because of the carbohydrates present in milk formula, even though the levels of sugar in current recipe are remarkably less than they were before. However, the major attribute to feeding bottle dental decay is the habit of making the babies to sleep with bottles constantly in their mouth and sucking on for hours. Another contributor of decay is using pacifiers. The use of sugar dipped pacifiers not only exacerbates decay, it also makes babies to look very ugly.

To summarize, when you feed through bottle, be more cautious of your child by preventing it from contracting dental decay. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry has suggested the following measures for preventing feeding bottle dental decay:

• Do not permit your child to sleep with a bottle filled with milk, recipe, juices of fruits or other sweetened fluids inserted in its mouth. Also never permit your child to stroll with the bottle in mouth.

• Pacify a child demanding a bottle with milk or sweetened liquid between normal eatings or during naps by replacing with cool water.