Common Dental Problems for Kids
Kids have a lot going in their little lives. In between starting school, learning to tie their shoe-laces and managing the dreaded vegetables that adorn their dinner plates, there are a fair few things that slip through the cracks and get forgotten about. In some cases, those problems are dental and can cause your children a host of issues if left untreated.
Because of that, we’ve got a handy breakdown for you to use when thinking about what could commonly affect your child’s dental health and what to look out for.
Grinding
Grinding can be a common issue for children with anxiety issues or those feeling pain from another source. This commonly happens when sleeping as an automatic response and can also emerge when children enter the teething stage or if their teeth are misaligned.
Thumb Sucking
Yes, unsurprisingly, thumb sucking is a big cause of certain dental problems in children and, more often than not, needs to be solved before it goes for too long. Chronic thumb sucking throughout the day can often lead to teeth being pushed forward in the mouth, causing misalignment in the teeth and impeding speech in certain cases. However, that little thumbsucker will naturally outgrow the behaviour given enough time, the trick here is to encourage them to lose the habit sooner rather than later.
Overly Sensitive Teeth
This can be tricky sometimes as the idea of children having sensitive teeth from other sources than the process of teething can be difficult to detect properly. So it’s probably a good idea to keep a close eye on that and make sure your child is going through normal processes rather than being in pain unnecessarily.
This problem normally comes about as a result of cavities forming in young teeth or, amazingly, by brushing their teeth too hard! So it’s probably best to keep your child away from sugary food as a rule and invest in soft bristle toothbrushes.
Dental Anxiety
It’s no secret that some children dislike going to the dentist and would not go at all if they had the choice. It’s totally understandable though, in between the strange people with masks, the unusual equipment and the unpleasant stories a child is likely to hear from friends at school or from children’s cartoons, going to the dentist can be a stressful day for many.
The best way to help a child with their anxiety for dentists is to stick around and aim to help make it a pleasant visit each time they’re over. Alerting your dentist to your child’s anxiety can also be massively helpful to inform the type of behaviour and challenges that they may encounter and the best ways to handle them.
There are far more issues that can potentially occur in children, though. This brief list is only meant to cover the most common. No matter what dental issue your child is facing, it’s always best to contact your local Bundamba emergency dentists and organise an appointment.