Save Baby Teeth: Avoid Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

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What do you usually do when your infant or toddle do not want to sleep, even if it’s time already? Probably you give him a bottle with milk or juice. This rather old method of calming down children works perfectly, except one thing. It causes baby bottle tooth decay. Here you can find out how this unpleasant baby teeth problem appears and what you can do to protect his young and gentle teeth.

As a parent you know that it’s important for your child to have a well balanced sleep regime. However, the methods you use to make you kid asleep or just relaxed are rather dangerous because they lead to baby tooth decay.

This dangerous baby teeth problem is a result of permanent interaction between normal mouth bacteria and carbohydrates. The sugar contained in milk and juices are converted into acids. After a prolonged contact, these acids destroy the tooth enamel. Baby teeth are affected for long because of this incorrect diet.

But where does this prolonged contact come from? Usually it’s a result of leaving your child to fall asleep with a bottle of milk or juice in his mouth. Or it may be the permanent bottle sucking between feedings.

Saliva has a very important function of protecting teeth in such cases. But, unfortunately its production decreases rapidly after your kid falls asleep. It can’t protect your baby’s teeth from tooth decay anymore because it’s just not enough. Swallowing disappears and leads to the fact that liquids present in the mouth at the time of falling asleep tend to remain there for a long time.

This dental condition usually appears between the age of 18 months and 3 years. This time baby becomes more active, walking is an essential part of his life. But he needs to sleep, too. So, what can you do to maintain his old habits and to protect his teeth form future baby bottle tooth decay?

Dentists recommend avoiding baby tooth decay by not allowing children falling asleep with a bottle of milk or juice in their mouth. They also say that dental hygiene routine should be taught even since the child has no teeth. It can be done with a wet, wrapped around your finger washcloth. Then your kid should try to brush his teeth by him self. It’s a life important habit and it should be taught from early years.

If you do need to make your kid calm down then try to keep him awake for 15 minutes after he drunks his liquid. It will help protecting his baby teeth form tooth decay. Saliva will manage to clean most of his mouth space reducing the influence of dangerous acids.

If your baby does not want to renounce the bottle before bed then try to give him unsweetened water instead of milk or juice. Reducing the quantity of sugar contained in his liquids you can reduce the chances to develop baby tooth decay.

Even if this do not help and your baby asks for milk then dilute it with water in order to reduce the quantity of dangerous sugar. Then dilute it more and more. Your kid will get used to it and won’t notice how in about one week he is falling asleep with a bottle with water in it. Your baby will be happy, and his baby teeth will be protected.

However, this great method can be applied only for children older then one. Small infants do need milk and different vitamins. But considering that most of them do not have teeth, so baby bottle tooth decay won’t develop.