Sometimes helping a young child to brush their teeth can feel like an impossible task. Many kids don’t like to sit still while you clean their teeth. But, taking care of your child’s baby teeth is important to their dental health both now and in the future. Children’s Dental Center is your children’s dentist in the Indianapolis area. We want to help you learn how to best care for your children’s baby teeth. We explain why caring for primary teeth is so vital, and we also provide tips for getting the work done. We commit ourselves to helping children develop healthy habits and attitudes about dental care so they can experience a lifetime of confident smiles.

Importance of Caring for Baby Teeth

Even though baby teeth will eventually fall out, you still need to care for them. Your child’s baby teeth have a profound effect on their physical, social, and even emotional development.

First, caring for baby teeth is important because it fosters good nutrition. When a child has healthy baby teeth, they can chew more diverse and healthy foods. Baby teeth also affect your child’s ability to speak and pronounce all the sounds needed to talk. This, along with your child’s appearance, may affect a child’s self esteem. A healthy mouth is a pain free mouth. Caring for your child’s baby teeth will allow him or her to play and learn without a distracting ache in his or her mouth. Finally, teaching your young child to care for his or her primary teeth teaches habits that will affect your child’s oral health for the rest of his or her life. Also, baby teeth act as placeholders in the jaw while adult teeth develop; they work to guide adult teeth in. When baby teeth are healthy, permanent teeth are more likely to develop and come in straight.