Parents, especially new parents have many questions about their child’s teeth; they want to know what the best toothpaste to use is; what about the brush, when I should make the first appointment with the children’s dentist on Long Island and much more. If you know the answers to these questions you are in a much better position to keep your child’s teeth healthy and free of decay.
As soon as your child cuts its first tooth you should begin a lifelong routine of dental care. It is not necessary to brush the first tooth but start by gently rubbing the tooth and the gums with a sift face cloth, as more and more teeth appear, then you can begin brushing.
Toothpaste:
Getting too much fluoride can actually pose a danger to a child so the choice of toothpaste is quite important. Most children’s toothpaste’s are fluorinated, they market it with cute little cartoon characters and different flavors to be attractive to the child and parent, but this does not mean they are necessarily safe to use if your child tends to swallow the toothpaste rather than spit it out.
As you will probably use fluorinated toothpaste, using just the slightest smear on the brush until the child is about two, at this time you can increase the amount to about the size of a pea. With these amounts there is little chance that you will cause harm if it is swallowed. At two years of age you can begin to encourage the child to spit the toothpaste out, usually by example.
Off to the dentist for the first visit:
Different people have different ideas of when the child should have their first visit to a children’s dentist on Long Island. There are those who advocate seeing the dentist when the first tooth appears, there are others who believe that going to the dentist can be set back to one year of age. These are opinions of parents, funny enough dentists and other professionals think that as long as the child is not displaying any problems, and that they are not sucking their thumb or sleeping with a bottle that they can have the first appointment at about three years of age.
Regardless of when you take your child for their first dental appointment, as a parent you must promote good dental health and hygiene at home from an early age.
If it is time for you to find a children’s dentist on Long Island for your first visit, you are welcome to contact Pediatric Dentistry of Suffolk County I and II.
