HOW DO TEETH AFFECT A CHILD'S ABILITY TO LEARN?

Primary teeth or baby teeth are important in three ways.  They are needed to chew our food which is the first step in digestion.  Proper nourishment is needed to function well in school. They are also needed for speech. Communicating properly with teachers and peers is important to learning.  In order to say certain sounds, teeth need to be in their proper location.  And finally, teeth are needed to form our face and give a child a beautiful smile and appearance which is important for emotional development.  But what happens if we do not take care of our children's teeth? Cavities can form which causes pain.  A child cannot function well at school when their mouth hurts.  It would be difficult to pay attention to teachers when your mouth is in constant pain. Also, in order to stop the pain, the child might need to miss school to go to a dentist.  51 million school  hours are lost every year due to tooth decay and oral diseases!

A child should go to the dentist at the age of one for their "well baby examination."  The dentist will have the opportunity to make sure your child's teeth are erupting properly and to check to a make sure the teeth are being properly cleaned.  This will also be the opportunity for you to ask questions and for the dentist to inform you on ways to prevent cavities.

A tooth can decay as soon as it erupts into the mouth.  If these cavities are not treated, the entire tooth can be destroyed.  A parent should never put an infant or child to bed with a bottle that contains anything except water.  The bacteria in the mouth will feed on the sugar that is in milk, juice, or sodas.  The bacteria will then release acids that could slowly destroy your child's teeth.  This usually happens even faster when a child is sleeping because the salivary flow is decreased.

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