Your Child’s First Cavity
by Hae Jin KimMany times I read moms forums and also talk to parents and see parents surprised and understandably a little mistrustful of the sudden “Your Child has Eight Cavities” conversation.
Let’s say a patient starts coming to the dentist for the first time at four years old and we do the first exam, do not see cavities and the patient might come back for a few more recall appointments every six months.
Finally the time arises when the patient becomes cooperative enough for bitewing x-rays around the age of 5 or 6 (this is very dependent on the individual child).
Surprise, there are eight cavities.
From our side, this is what we see in the mouth and see we cannot see the cavity between the teeth where the molars are in contact.
When they are cooperative enough to take bitewing x-rays, we are able to spot a surprise cavity.
How did this happen? We are sure lots of emotions can arise from this sudden news.
We see a lot of reactions from parents from disbelief to guilt and we want you know to know that over 70% of children have a cavity by age seven and nobody expects it to be their kid.
Some factors can contribute. Just because you are brushing everyday doesn’t mean you are brushing off all the plaque. We recommend using a plaque disclosing solution that shows you where the plaque is. Pink is new plaque and blue is old plaque. Use this first and then brush off the plaque. Adding mindfulness and color mapping of the plaque can help ensure you are removing all the plaque off the teeth.
Also you can be brushing twice a day and flossing daily, but your diet can be a big factor into cavities. Let’s say you brush twice a day and floss, but eat gummy vitamins daily and tend to snack throughout the day on goldfish or pretzels. Each carbohydrate snack can cause acid release in your mouth for 20-40 minutes. So the more times you snack, you can be prone to developing cavities.
Also starting the first dental appointment by age 5 means you missed out on preventative appointments and fluoride treatments early on.
We recommend kids to have their first visit by their first birthday or as soon as they start developing teeth. This way we can track their development and be your dental home where you and your child have positive experiences with us.
