3 Bad Oral Health Habits That Can Harm Your Child’s Teeth
At Today’s Dental Comfort, we want the best oral health for all of our patients, young and old. This is one of the reasons we stress routine oral hygiene appointments. However, most of the responsibility for your oral care falls on your shoulders. We know that our adult patients are able to care for their teeth on their own, but children need assistance in caring for their teeth at home. There are some habits that can negatively affect your children’s teeth and can impact the future of their oral health. We want to share some of the most common habits that can lead to major problems in the future:
Thumbsucking
If you have a child over the age of four who is still a thumbsucker or uses a pacifier, it is time to break the habit as soon as possible. Children who suck their thumbs or use a pacifier past the age of four have a much higher risk of experiencing dental issues, such as an overbite. Prolonged thumbsucking or pacifier use can lead to significant orthodontic bills in the future.
Drinking Too Much Juice
You would be surprised at the amount of sugar in some of the juices that children love to drink. One serving of juice can have as much or more sugar than an entire can of your favorite soft drink. Drinking juice on occasion is not typically harmful, but allowing your child to continuously drink juice throughout the day or putting it in your young child’s bottle can lead to severe dental decay in the future.
Biting Fingernails
Not only can biting fingernails cause damage to the front teeth, the consequent introduction of harmful bacteria can also lead to illness as well as the development of mouth sores.
If you have any questions about the state of your child’s oral health or need to schedule your child or yourself for a routine hygiene examination, we would love to hear from you. Be sure to contact our office, which is located in Burton, MI, and one of our team members will help you schedule an appointment. We look forward to seeing you soon!