Dental Dangers

Why Taking Care of Baby's Teeth Starts Now

With a newborn in the house, parents have a whole list of new health concerns – from whether Baby is developing appropriately to worrying that he may become allergic to the family pet. What many parents don't realize, say pediatric dentists, is the importance of their baby's dental health.

"It's important to start removing bacteria from the mouth long before the teeth show up," says Dr. Michael Webb, a pediatric dentist with the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. "Any bacteria accumulation that occurs before a baby cuts his first tooth can be detrimental to the incoming tooth. A few minutes with [cleaning the mouth with a] washcloth works wonders."

Not only does caring for your baby's mouth before her teeth come in help ward off bacterial infections and future decay, it also gets her accustomed to having her mouth cleaned and begins establishing a habit of good oral hygiene, says Dr. Mary J. Hayes, a pediatric dentist in Chicago, Ill. and a spokeswoman for the American Dental Association.

Cleaning your baby's mouth, which stimulates the soft tissue, can even help develop muscles in the mouth that are important in speech development later on, she says.

Once a little-known aspect of caring for newborns, the importance of early oral hygiene is a message that parents are being exposed to more frequently.

"I never thought to worry about it. I figured I'd worry about his teeth when he started getting some," Allison McCaleb, of Kokomo, Ind. says about her 8-month-old son, Matthew. "But then I started getting brochures about baby gum care and realized what I needed to do and what could happen if I didn't."

Caring for soon-to-arrive teeth in the infant stage is pretty simple: Use a wet washcloth or gauze to rub your baby's gums, tongue and lips after each feeding to remove plaque and, say dentists, don't let him sleep with a milk or juice bottle.

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