Importance of Baby Teeth

by | Mar 15, 2019 | Uncategorized

Many believe that baby teeth aren’t as important as adult teeth because they’re only temporary. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Baby teeth play a very important roll in a child’s life. Without baby teeth, children can suffer many setbacks including cognitive development and growth. It’s important that a child’s oral health is cared for even before baby teeth push through the gums. Issues can start occurring with teeth even before they’re visible. This is why it’s a must that a child’s oral health is made a priority from day one.

Children Need Their Baby Teeth to Learn How to Chew

If children have issues with their baby teeth such as decay or early loss, this can cause them to miss out on growth such as learning how to chew. Learning how to chew is a step in a child’s cognitive development and if they have no teeth, this really sets a child back in this stage of growth. Although this seems like it’s no big deal, not being able to learn how to chew can stunt cognitive growth in other areas due to the setback.

Baby Teeth are Needed for Proper Nutrition

If a child has no baby teeth, they are unable to chew solid foods. This means they must be limited to softer foods. This can cause issues not only with the stimulation in their gums, causing them to breakdown but, it can cause them to miss out on some vital foods. As children grow, they progress through various stages of foods in order for their body to gain the proper nutrients as it’s needed. If they are limited to only soft foods, this can cause them to be hungry more often and drop weight when they shouldn’t.

Adult Teeth Can Drift

If baby teeth are lost prematurely, this can cause adult teeth to drift into the wrong spaces. Not all adult teeth come in at the same time. This means that the adult teeth that are ready to come in can migrate towards the empty spaces, cause major issues with crooked teeth and crowding. Having baby teeth in their proper place and healthy, allows for the adult teeth to come in straighter and healthier.
The health of your child’s baby teeth can affect the adult teeth in many ways. Therefore, starting a child off with wonderful oral health will help them in the future when their adult teeth are coming in. The less a child has to go through major dental procedures, the better. Natural is always better and that’s why most dental professionals focus on preventative care more than anything. If a child can avoid major procedures now, this will help them through adulthood.

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