Dentistry is important for everyone, especially kids. But why? Besides keeping smiles and mouths healthy with protective sealants, fluoride treatments and cleanings, those regular dental visits with your child’s Long Island pediatric dentist can set her on a path towards a lifetime of good oral and overall health.
Baby Teeth Are Important
One of the common misconceptions about baby teeth is that since they’re going to fall out anyway, who cares when it actually happens. This is a particular concern for everyone at our Long Island pediatric dental office. Even though these precious, tiny teeth will fall out sooner or later, it’s important to keep them healthy so they don’t fall out too soon.
Save Us a Spot!
Baby teeth, also known as primary teeth, are placeholders for permanent, adult teeth. By keeping them healthy and in place, they’re reserving just the right amount of space for the adult teeth that are developing under the gums. If baby teeth fall out too soon due to decay or other reasons, the gaps left behind allow the remaining healthy teeth to shift, throwing off the natural positioning for both baby teeth and future adult teeth.
Look Who’s Talking!
Primary teeth also help children develop proper speech and pronunciation as they learn how to talk. As they pop through the gums, teeth are in position to help transform ‘baby talk’ into words others can start to clearly understand. If these important teeth are lost too soon, speech may be affected.
Let’s Eat!
One of the main purposes of all teeth is to help us chew so we can swallow and digest food easily. As children transition from soft foods to ones that require chewing, teeth become important to overall nutrition. Those children whose teeth may fall out sooner than they should often have nutritional deficiencies, can be underweight, or even malnourished.
At our pediatric dental office in Long Island, we stress the importance of visiting us at least every six months because we know how crucial early prevention can be. Many dental problems can be treated easily and successfully with early diagnosis, so seeing us regularly is crucial for even the tiniest grins.
If it’s time for your child to start seeing the dentist (usually within 6 months of the first tooth’s exposure), we encourage you to give us a call to schedule an appointment. We’ll make sure to explain everything in detail and work to keep her teeth in the best, healthiest state possible.
Accepting patients from Long Island, Westbury, and Nassau County.
