Methods of caries prevention in children

According to statistics, in almost every third child in most regions of Russia, teeth begin to deteriorate immediately after teething, that is, from 5-6 months of age. Many parents blame bad water, genetics, and even the baby, but in fact they are most to blame for themselves, because they did not start caries prevention on time during the teething of the very first temporary teeth.

It is known that the disease is easier to prevent than to treat, but, as practice shows, not everyone follows the commandments of this simple truth, and for some reason they are rather negligent in the prevention of caries in their children. Such carelessness often leads to serious consequences: after some time, the milk teeth are destroyed to such an extent that they begin to bring severe suffering to the child, often many teeth simply cannot be preserved.

Premature removal almost always leads to tooth dislocation, violation of the dentition and the formation of a malocclusion, which suggests its long and often expensive orthodontic treatment in the future (braces, plates). Well, if here everything is left to chance and the bite is not corrected, then the child already in the preschool period begins to form complexes that traumatize his psyche, as well as speech defects. In addition, the shape of the face may change.

This is only part of the possible undesirable consequences that can be easily avoided if one takes up the prevention of caries from the moment the baby has the very first deciduous tooth and subsequently competently supplements the necessary measures as the baby grows.

 

Antenatal care and its importance for mom and unborn baby

Unfortunately, many young couples do not even realize that the prevention of caries in their unborn child should begin during pregnancy. Antenatal prophylaxis is a system of measures aimed at preventing future caries in a child and is already carried out at the stage of intrauterine development of dental rudiments.

It is in the antenatal period that it is very important how the fetus will form tissues of future teeth, how much they will be mineralized. For example, due to a lack of minerals in the body of a pregnant woman, toxicosis during pregnancy, various health problems, the baby sometimes has teeth that are not very resistant to caries.

To ensure the correct laying of the rudiments of temporary teeth in an unborn child and, thus, for the prevention of future caries in a baby, a woman needs to take a number of specific measures during the antenatal period. It is important to keep in mind that you need to take care not only about the teeth of the future baby, but also about your own, since during pregnancy they can very quickly begin to break down due to a decrease in remineralizing properties of saliva.

• Observe the correct diet and dietary patterns: increase the amount of calcium-containing foods in the diet, limit the intake of carbohydrates (sweets, flour products), especially between meals.
• Follow oral hygiene: carry out mechanical cleaning of tooth surfaces from plaque by brushes and dental floss.
• Undergo a comprehensive medical examination not only during pregnancy planning, but also during it.
• To carry out the prevention and treatment (sanitation) of carious lesions at the dentist, since the microorganisms multiplying in them can have a long-term negative effect on the development of the fetus.
• To carry out professional toothbrushing in a certain trimester of pregnancy on the recommendation of a doctor.
• By agreement with the doctor, use vitamin-mineral complexes aimed at preventing the deficiency of nutrients - both to ensure the health of the woman herself and for the proper development of the fetal tooth rudiments in order to increase their resistance to caries in the future.

On a note

Very conditionally vitamin complexes can be divided into three groups:

1. Economy class: Complivit Mom, Alphabet Mom's health, etc .;
2. Middle class: Vitrum Prenatal, Multi-Tab Perinatal and others;
3. Premium class: Elevit Pronatal, Materna, etc.

 

How to feed a baby for extra protection against caries

To prevent caries in children of preschool and school age, endogenous and exogenous systems of preventive measures have been developed.

Endogenous prophylaxis is aimed at saturating the teeth with important mineral components from the inside, that is, when certain products or medications are taken orally. However, before feeding a child with ready-made complexes for the prevention of caries, you should first adjust the diet as a whole.

So, for example, it is important to understand that products containing carbohydrates, in the majority, provoke caries, since they are food for cariogenic bacteria. Therefore, limiting the consumption of sweets up to about 3-4 years of age is a pretty effective solution to the problem.

If it is problematic to remove sweets and other confectionery from the child’s diet, they should be limited at least partially and especially excluded from the intervals between meals. Thus, the time spent by carbohydrate residues on the surface of the child’s teeth will be reduced, and conditions will also be created for the return of lost minerals to the teeth from saliva (saliva has natural mineralizing properties in relation to hard tissues of the tooth).

In addition, there are products that are well suited for cleaning the mouth - these are solid fruits and vegetables. During chewing, food debris is removed and saliva is liberated, which eliminates the microbial factor.

On a note

Prevention of caries in children of preschool and school age in certain cases can be supplemented by the use of fluorinated water, salt, milk, as well as fluoride-containing tablets. These systemic methods of prevention can only be used after consulting a dentist who can prescribe them, for example, with a low concentration of fluoride in drinking water in a particular region.

As part of caries prevention, it will be useful to refuse sweet fruit juices, as well as soda in favor of mineral water or not too strong tea. Many substances useful for teeth are found in low-fat fish and in seafood (especially phosphorus and vitamin D, which contributes to better absorption of calcium).

Products containing calcium (cottage cheese, cheese, milk, cream, etc.) are ideal for systemic tooth decay prevention in children, however, it is worth remembering that it is necessary to brush the child’s teeth after each such meal, since dairy products are an excellent medium for the propagation of cariogenic bacteria.

To strengthen the action of the systemic factor, after consultation with the pediatrician, multivitamin and mineral complexes can also be taken to the main diet, which also contribute to the prevention of caries (for example, Junior Neo, Junior Big Big, Multi-Tabs Calcium Kid, VitaMishka calcium +).

 

The secret to effective hygiene through an integrated approach

In addition to limiting the consumption of sweet and balanced diets for the prevention of caries in children of preschool and school age, it is necessary to apply the so-called exogenous methods of prevention.

These include:

• Thorough oral hygiene and parental control over its implementation;
• The use of children's toothpastes and rinses, as well as dental floss for cleaning interdental spaces;
• Professional oral hygiene at the dentist (removal of plaque and stone);
• Remineralization of enamel and its deep fluorination for the prevention and treatment of caries in the spot stage (carried out in the dentist's office).

Regular and thorough oral hygiene is a very important link in the prevention of caries in children, since without constant mechanical removal of plaque there will be no effect even with proper nutrition and taking fluoride-containing preparations.

Pediatric Dentist Council

In no case should a child be forced to brush her teeth by force, as this will form a negative attitude to hygiene for life. Encourage the baby to preventive measures is recommended in a relaxed playful way.

In this case, you should pre-purchase a brush recommended for the age of your child, for example, with a funny shape in the form of an animal or cartoon character. Most children readily begin to repeat when they see how mom and dad are happy to brush their teeth in the morning after eating and in the evening - before bedtime.

Toothpastes in the first years of a baby’s life, up to about 3-4 years old, do not contain fluoride, but help with mechanical cleaning of the teeth, creating a foam. Fluorides are excluded from the composition of such toothpastes because the child can often swallow up to 30% of the toothpaste used.

With each subsequent year, in pastes recommended by a certain age category, a small content of fluorides appears, strengthening children's enamel and preventing its demineralization under the influence of cariogenic factors. Often, antiseptics and enzymes are also introduced into children's toothpastes to combat bacteria and to reduce the rate of plaque formation. These pastes should be applied in a course of no more than 2 weeks, since the microflora of the oral cavity can gradually become resistant to their action.

Professional oral hygiene (that is, in the dentist’s office) is especially important for the prevention of caries in school-age children, since it is during this period that you can meet not only pigmented plaque, but even tartar. Often, after removing dental plaque, you can detect foci of initial caries and, thereby, manage to prevent its further development.

As noted above, for the prevention of carious damage to milk and permanent teeth in children, remineralization of tooth enamel and its deep fluorination can be carried out (in simple terms, this is the saturation of tooth hard tissues with mineral components). For the prevention of caries in children of preschool and school age, special solutions, varnishes and gels are used for this purpose.

Varnishes can be applied to the teeth with special brushes or in the mouthguard, which is more effective. Often, to obtain a quick result, electrophoresis of calcium and fluorine compounds is used: useful compounds penetrate the enamel more easily due to low currents

The alternation of preparations for remineralization (for example, Remodent) and for deep fluorination (for example, Enamel- and Dentin-sealing liquid) at the dentist's appointment allows you to protect children's tooth enamel from caries damage for a long time.

 

Healthy teeth that "sealed" from tooth decay

The so-called fissure sealing is a procedure of "sealing" the chewing surface of teeth with a special sealant (silane), which allows for effective and long-term prevention of caries both in schoolchildren and in preschool age. The procedure is performed at the dentist's appointment for certain indications, the main of which is the presence of deep and closed fissures.

Depending on the mineralization of the fissures (degree of saturation with the mineral components of the enamel), the sealing is carried out:

• immediately after teething (with normal mineralization);
• with mandatory course preparation of the tooth for sealing by special treatment with fluoride varnishes and taking products and preparations containing calcium and fluorine (with an average degree of enamel mineralization);
• or glass ionomer sealants are used without etching the enamel with acid (with low salinity).

With a high mineralization of fissures, sealing can be omitted. In most cases, fissure sealing is carried out at the age of 6-13 years.

It's important to know

Especially important is the sealing of sixth permanent teeth, which erupt in a child as young as 6 years old and tend to decay faster than all other permanent teeth. At the same time, the normal bite, its height, etc., largely depend on these teeth.

Preventive sealing of fissures is carried out with special preparations: glass ionomer and composite materials are most often used as sealants. There are methods of non-invasive (without preparation) and invasive sealing (using fissurotomy burs to open the fissures before sealing).

For non-invasive sealing use fluid sealants that harden themselves or from the light of a lamp. The main stages of non-invasive sealing:

1. Tooth treatment for plaque and food debris;
2. Saliva isolation and drying;
3. Application of phosphoric acid solution to the fissure surface;
4. Rinsing with distilled water;
5. Drying and applying liquid sealant to the fissures;
6. Waiting for hardening or activation of the silane using a lamp;
7. Removing excess material and quality control seals from sealant;
8. Mandatory control of sealing after 3-6 months.

The procedure takes an average of 10-40 minutes and does not deliver almost any pain.

The preventive effect of sealing is provided by closing enamel sections in fissures that are not protected from caries from external environmental influences, as well as fluorine compounds introduced into the sealant. The sealing effect and, accordingly, the prevention of caries in this area of ​​the tooth, is achieved for a period usually from 1-2 to 7-8 years.

 

Likes for parents: debunking some myths about children's teeth

At the dental appointment, each doctor regularly has to answer questions from the parents of the babies. Many of these questions for doctors seem too repetitive, strange, funny, boring and even anecdotal, but this is the case when the patient is always right, and the most popular of them can and should be deciphered.

So…

Why keep baby's baby teeth if they fall out anyway?

Perhaps this is the most popular question, which often determines the level of education of a person. The fact is that the protection of primary teeth is a contribution to the health of permanent. Often the child’s decaying decay from caries causes irreparable damage to the rudiment of a permanent tooth, and it may not appear at all. Caries is an infection, so the child’s immunity can sometimes not cope with other sores if it is constantly loaded and exploited. Violation of the dentition due to premature tooth extraction is a disaster for the future bite, the psyche of the child and parents who, after the fact, learn about the financial component of solving such a problem. Therefore, the prevention of caries is an invaluable contribution to dental health and the overall health of children.

At what age can a child brush his teeth?

Children's dentists advise starting the prevention of caries in the baby before the appearance of the teeth: the gums are wiped with a gauze swab dipped in warm boiled water in the morning and evening. With the appearance of the first tooth (at about 6-10 months), mom or dad clean it with a special fingertip brush - it is made of hypoallergenic rubber and is worn on the finger.Soft silicone bristles perfectly remove plaque and prevent caries in young children. And the child should be accustomed to the toothbrush from about 1.5-2 years.

What should I do if my child does not have the opportunity to brush his teeth well, as they are uneven?

Unfortunately, when milk teeth erupt incorrectly or irregularities occur in the rudiments of permanent teeth, an incorrect bite may form or problems arise with the position of the teeth in the dentition. In such cases, it is often impossible to completely clean all surfaces of the teeth and thereby reliably prevent the development of caries. The help of an orthodontist dentist is needed, who will be able to assess the clinical situation and set a time when corrective structures (for example, braces) can be installed.

As you can see, the importance of caries prevention in childhood can hardly be overestimated, and it depends on the parents whether the child’s teeth will be healthy and beautiful in the future. Take note of it and ... act!

 

An interesting video about the methods of caries prevention in children

 

What is important for parents to know about caries in baby teeth