Dental problems...how do you know?

[Kalliesmama]

I am concerned about my DD's teeth- she is 14 months and has 14 teeth, including four molars. My worry is that because of bad advice (her old ped. said dental care wasn't important at this stage and no dentist til 4 years old :eek :angry ) and now, difficulty brushing her teeth, she may already have dental problems. Now that we are more aware of how her teeth should be cared for, we try to brush them twice a day but she fights against it, so it is hard to do a really good job. She nurses all day and night and I wonder what this, in combination with the other problems, has done to her poor little teeth! My actual question here is what should I look for to know if there are dental problems/decay? And, should I take her to a dentist yet to be sure that she is ok or just continue to care for her teeth and wait until she's a bit older to get them checked? Any advice on this is much appreciated!

~Jen
DD: Kallie, 12/26/01

[simonee]

OFten decay on little ones is visible. Can you do a game like thing where you check each others' mouths? I've done "dental exams" on dd by taking her in the sling on a sunny day, and then making her laugh real hard (which isn't easy. I'm just not a funny person :) ).

The places where it shows up first are usually either the gum lines on the top front teeth, either the front or the back, or the grooves in the molars. If these areas (and the rest) look regular and not discolored, she's likely just fine. If they have brown or yellow spots, there might be some decay. If you see white spots, do a search for "demineralization" in the dental archives and go from there.

Most kids have good teeth. The stories you read here represent the couple of 100 cases of bad teeth found among the almost 8000 members this site has. If she's not in pain, and her teeth look healthy, they probably are.

But anyway, it's maybe a good idea to take her with you when you go the dentist a few times, just so she knows what it's like (and so she'll grow up thinking dentists just clean teeth and tickle them with little mirrors :) ). And yeah, you should definitely brush. here's an archived thread about brushing babes' teeth (http://mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3697)

[RileysMom]

I never tried to brush dd's teeth until she *wanted* me to....I would set her on our bathroom counter and let her watch me. After a little while doing this, she desperately wanted to brush her teeth! She willingly lets me brush (just a short time) and then she'll brush and chew on the brush as long as I let her.

We do this 3 or 4 times a day usually....