Dental Care is Crucial During the First Year of Life
- The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), American Dental Association (ADA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend a dental visit for children by age one.
- Proper care for baby teeth is imperative because they serve several critical functons such as:
- Fostering good nutrition by permitting proper chewing
- Aiding speech development
- Helping proper development of permanent teeth by saving space for them.
- Baby teeth are vulnerable to tooth decay from their very first appearance, on average between the ages of six and 12 months.
- The associative pain of tooth decay can prevent a child from eating correctly, impacting overall health and development. Additionally, undetected and untreated tooth decay can lead to infection, loss of teeth and expensive and mostly preventable emergency and restorative interventions.
- A scientific paper in the journal Pediatric Dentistry revealed that children who wait to have their first dental visit until age two or three are more likely to require restorative and emergency visits.
Benefits of the Year One Dental Visit
- 1+1=ZERO. ONE dental visit when there is ONE tooth can equal ZERO cavities.
- Visiting a pediatric dentist by the time the first baby tooth appears enables the child to begin a lifelong preventive dental care program to minimize tooth decay and cavities.
- The year one dental visit can actually save money. A study in the journal Pediatrics showed that children who have their first dental visit before age one have 40% lower dental costs in their first five years than children who do not, due to the cost of dental and medical procedures that may be necessary as a result of poor oral health.
Call us today to schedule you child's first appointment!