1. Baby teeth aren’t important. They are just going to fall out anyway!
Baby teeth serve many important functions in your child’s development. Baby teeth are natural space maintainers for the permanent teeth. If your child loses a baby tooth too early, this could cause crowding of his/her permanent teeth. The health of your child’s baby teeth can also affect the health of their adult teeth. If you leave dental decay in a baby tooth, it could eventually cause your child pain, abscess, swelling, affect the adult tooth developing under the baby tooth, and the infection could even spread to other parts of the child’s body.2. My child has cavities because he has soft teeth.There is no such thing as having “soft teeth.” In fact, enamel (the outer surface of the tooth) is the hardest substance in the body. There are many factors that cause dental decay so it is often difficult to pinpoint the exact cause. We do know that there are three things required to cause tooth decay: bacteria, a diet for the bacteria (sugar!), and a susceptible host (the tooth).3. It’s okay to soothe your child to sleep by putting them to bed with a bottle of milk.Milk also has sugar which can ultimately cause tooth decay. Like juice, milk is okay to drink but in limited quantities. It is also best to drink milk at mealtime only so your child’s teeth don’t have prolonged exposure to the sugar.4. I can’t get my child to stop sucking his fingers/thumb!If your child has a finger habit, the goal is always to have them stop the habit. Your child’s front baby teeth will be replaced with adult teeth around this time. When the front adult teeth are erupting, you want to avoid any forces placed on these teeth so that they can erupt in their natural positions. Dentists have many ideas to help parents fight the finger-sucking battle – so make sure to ask at your next check-up visit!5. Bottled water is just as good for your teeth as tap water.Tap water contains an important ingredient (fluoride) which has proven to strengthen the enamel of your teeth. The fluoridation of
community water supplies as safe and effective for preventing tooth decay for over years. Most bottled water does NOT contain fluoride which means your child is missing out on this for their teeth.
6. I don’t need to take my child to the dentist until she starts school.There are many reasons why finding a dental home for your child is beneficial to your family. It’s important of course, to
have the dentist count and check all their teeth for cavities. It’s also important for the dentist to establish a relationship with yourchild to help allay any fears of the dentist, to help establish a preventive plan to help fight tooth decay, and to have a dentist to contactin case of a dental emergency.
7. My child can brush her own teeth.
Although it may appear that your child can brush his/her own teeth, most likely, they are not getting all the “hard to reach” places. In fact, children do not develop the manual dexterity needed to brush all their teeth on their own until they can write in cursive handwriting. Until then, we recommend allowing your child to brush followed by a thorough brushing by the parent.