Newborn Oral Care
When Do Teeth Start to Appear?
Although babies’ teeth may differ slightly from child to child, they start with the lower front incisors from the first 6 months and 24-30. Between months, 20 milk teeth are completed, 10 in the upper jaw and 10 in the lower jaw.
How Should Oral Care Be Taken for 3-6 Months-Old Babies?
Attention should be paid to the feeding of the teeth in order to increase the body resistance at the time of eruption.
Oral hygiene is important because early childhood caries can be seen more frequently in babies who are not breastfed. In order to prevent early childhood caries (baby bottle caries) in milk teeth, after feeding, especially before going to sleep at night, gauze or a piece of cheesecloth should be wrapped around the mother’s finger and the teeth should be wiped clean.
Breastfeeding with a bottle, using sweetened pacifiers, giving sweet foods and drinks at frequent intervals, acidic fruit juices given with a bottle cause early caries.
With the eruption of the first milk teeth, the baby’s existing teeth should be cleaned with a piece of gauze after each feeding.
It is also extremely important for families to provide their own oral and dental care. Parents and caregivers should not use common cutlery, glasses and toothbrushes with babies, they should not clean the baby’s pacifier by putting it in their mouth, they should clean it with soap and water.
How Should Oral Care Be Taken for 6-12 Month Old Babies?
It is the eruption period of the teeth in the child, therefore, redness on the face, increased salivation, and mild fever can be observed. In addition, there may be discomfort due to redness, swelling, itching in the area where the teeth will erupt. In this case, massage with a clean finger or teether produced for this purpose can relax the baby.
There will be 2 lower incisors at 6 months, 4 (2 lower 2 upper) incisors at 9 months, 8 (lower 4, upper 4) incisors at 12 months, deviations in these dates do not matter. The eruption time of the teeth is variable, but 12-18. If the teeth do not come out by a month, a doctor should be consulted.
Teeth cleaning should be continued with the same method, and the baby should be met with a toothbrush and a dentist by the age of one.
From the 6th month, babies should be fed with a glass and spoon. Bottles should not be used.
If there is a habit of thumb sucking from the age of one, it should be turned into a pacifier, and the pacifier should never be dipped in sweets such as honey, molasses, jam.