This week at Hartwell Dentistry we continue our journey in discovering how our teeth, gums and mouth develops as we grow older.

As your kids grow older, they become more independent and start to take on more responsibilities, this is an important time in regards to dental health. It is essential that your kids know how to take care of their teeth properly to ensure that they develop healthy strong teeth and great oral hygiene techniques.

Ages 5-12

The Facts:

• Children at this age start to develop their independence and will want to do a lot of things themselves. It is important however to continue to help and supervise children’s oral hygiene routines and make sure they are cleaning correctly.

• Correct brushing and removal of bacteria in between the teeth will reduce harmful bacteria that cause gum infection and tooth decay.
• This is also a time where there are lots of birthday parties. Party food is usually loaded with sugar.
• Teeth start to wobble during this time and eventually fall out to make way for the adult teeth. Wobbly teeth can prevent effective brushing, increasing infection risks in the mouth.
• Kids being kids can have a few bumps and knocks growing up. Their front teeth are mostly susceptible to chipping and knocking.
• If there is continuing poor oral habits such as thumb/ finger sucking and mouth breathing, poor dental arch form can develop, causing dental crowding.
• Children of these ages are at the highest risk of getting cavities.

What you can do:

• To wear a custom made mouth-guard when playing sports including football, basketball and soccer.
• To prevent cavities on adult and baby teeth, fissure sealants can protect the fine grooves of the molars from decaying.
• For poor habits like thumb/ finger sucking and mouth breathing, a dentist trained in airway management can assist. Dentists can help develop arch form, help relieve crowding and prevent ongoing poor facial development. Early treatment of the dental arches can prevent crowding as well as poor facial forms.

• Have regular visits to your oral health professions.

  

  18585676 – a perspective view of a regular blue sports gum guard fitted to a set of open false teeth on an isolated background

 

Ages 12-16

The Facts

• Full development of adult dentition is completed usually at 12-13 for girls and 14-15 for boys.

• More and bigger teeth mean more better home care is required. Teens are at a very high risk  of getting cavities.

 

What you can do:

• Regular dentist checks to ensure teeth and jaws are developing properly and to guide home care to help prevent disease.

• If crowding due to poor arch development, Orthodontic treatment at this stage is usually done by extraction or surgery.

 

How we can help:

As we discussed last week, the growth and development of your child mouth not only effect their dental health but can also have an effect on their future overall health. At Hartwell Dentistry, Dr Dana Horng and our Oral Health Therapist can help assist your children to make sure they have the right tools to help take care of their oral health. It is important regular dental visits start at a young age.

Join us next week, we will be discussing what happens between they ages of 16-25 and 25-45.