Are Milk Teeth Important ?

Dear Readers,

The question of importance of milk teeth arises quite frequently. Most of the times patients assume taking good care of milk teeth is not so necessary because they are just going to fall shortly.

But these assumptions are completely wrong as milk teeth are as important as permanent (adult teeth).

If milk teeth fall / shed early, then the gaps created by them cause shifting and rotation of other teeth leading to spacing, crowding and malaligned teeth increasing the need of orthodontic treatment (braces, teeth wires) in future.

Children are more prone to dental decay as they consume more sweets. eg.: chocolates, bakery products etc. If milk teeth become deeply carious and get infected, this infection and decay may pass on to erupting permanent teeth. Consequently, permanent teeth are damaged even before coming out of the gums.

Malaligned or black / brown stained, decayed teeth become a social stigma to the child leading to loss of self confidence and subsequent depression of the child. At this growing stage very small things matter to these budding minds.

So kindly do not neglect milk teeth. They are very important to child development.