The importance of baby teeth is often misunderstood. Not only do baby teeth ‘hold’ the space for adult teeth, guiding our permanent teeth into the correct position in the mouth, early loss of any tooth can lead to huge problems, such as space loss, crowding, tipping and tilting of teeth etc
Baby teeth may need the exact same treatment modalities as adult teeth, be that regular check-ups, cleans, fillings, extractions etc but on a much smaller and wrigglier scale! The Australian Dental Association recommends that your child’s first dental visit be at one year old. This may be only a quick check on Mum or Dad’s lap to screen for early childhood caries.
Your dentist will discuss the crucial importance of good dental hygiene and give diet advice to help you maintain your child’s teeth into his/her adult years. Many patients are surprised to find that the first ‘adult’ tooth actually appears at 6 years old!
Bearing all this in mind, we must also be mindful of making your child’s first and subsequent dental visits a positive and happy experience. You will be referred to a paediatric dentist, or we can do the child’s treatment under general anaesthesia, where the child is put to sleep by a specialist anaesthetist at The Boulevarde Day Surgery, Fairfield Heights, if your dentist feels that your child cannot tolerate dental treatment in our clinics due to:
In some cases your child’s first dental treatment may be under a general anaesthesia and with time we aim to have regular dental appointments with your local dentist.