Most of the educational dental blogs we read today are centered around dental caries, its causes, and various treatment approaches. While we all know that knowledge is a prerequisite for healthy behavior, none of these programs gives an insight to the parents about the importance of full mouth rehabilitation. As dental problems don’t command instant fear in parents like any other medical condition, the majority of the time parents visit the dentist only when a tooth hurts.
It is disheartening to know that most parents think that all baby teeth fall by 6 years of age and getting treated for only the painful or loose ones would make their child dentally fit. However, to burst the misconception one must know, that the child’s back teeth also called the milk molars are lost between 10-13 years of age. Oral diseases left untreated can exacerbate many fragile conditions in children like recurrent bouts of fever, loss of weight, loss of precious school hours, and also self-confidence to smile. Although largely preventable by taking timely action, the progressive nature of dental caries can diminish a child’s quality of life. Also, early intervention is less threatening to our pockets with lower treatment costs, and a need to perform complicated dental procedures diminishes.
So the next question which fills up the mind is, do all kinds of dental decay needs to be treated or only the troublesome ones? Is dental caries contagious? To every parent’s surprise, let me uncover that dental caries is an infectious and transmissible disease. Various debriding procedures, like toothbrushing and flossing, might remove most plaque organisms, but can leave untouched some bacteria which are firmly sequestered into untreated tooth cavities. On the ingestion of fermentable sugary food by your child, these bad bacteria from unhealthy tooth structures attack healthy teeth in our mouth. Thus, a good tooth starts losing some of its minerals from this microbial insult. Also, another potential of oral bacteria is to store polysaccharide (sugars) and continue to secrete acid long after the food has been swallowed.
Just like any infectious disease, dental caries to have a human to human transmission. This is called a window of infectivity. Minimizing saliva-sharing activities like sharing of utensils, food, and drinks and toothbrushes between the child and the caregiver, discouraging a child from putting his/her hand in the caregiver’s mouth and not tasting food or licking a pacifier before handing it to the child can limit bacterial transmission.
Opting for complete dental care for your child not only helps to safeguard the existing teeth till their natural fall time but also the permanent teeth which are generally below the baby teeth. A child who undergoes comprehensive tooth treatment in contrast to only the painful ones can chew, speak, grow, and socialize better. Full mouth rehabilitation is an effective approach that not only creates a functional equilibrium but also, establishes the aesthetic well being of the child. I hope this blog encourages all the parents to embrace comprehensive care as a holistic approach to disease prevention and spread in their children.
Remember, A STITCH IN TIME, SAVES NINE.
About the author
Dr. Shweta Tiwari, MDS
Preventive & Paediatric dentist, Mumbai
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