Healthy teeth for children

https://caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/healthy-living/healthy_teeth_for_children

White Tooth Dental Takeaways:

This article is a great summary for all parents of infants and young children! A few key points are:

(1) Your child's first visit to the dentist should occur by 12 months or within 6 months of eruption of the first tooth- whichever comes first.  We do not expect to see any issues, or even to necessarily be able to do a thorough (or minimal) examination or "cleaning", but we like to see children this young to help guide parents on how to take care of their child's teeth and get the baby used to the dental experience to make future visits as stress-free (and hopefully fun) as possible!

(2) Fluoridated toothpaste is sometimes recommended for infants, so please make sure to speak to your child's dentist about their specific needs.

(3) Though breastmilk itself is high in sugar, studies show that there is not an increased risk for cavities on baby teeth until foods are introduced. It is very important that once your child is eating "real" food and still drinking breastmilk, that proper oral hygiene routines are in place- brushing teeth twice a day (particularly before bed) and ideally nothing at all with them in bed, but a bottle with water at most.

(4) If your child has a fever and is teething, the fever is separate from teething. Teething does not cause fever, so please keep a close eye on your little one and consult with your doctor as needed.

(5) Teething remedies- the only recommendation I would like to add to the article is to *not* offer any frozen items- they can burn your baby's tender gums. Fridge cold is the absolute coldest!