Top Reasons Why Your Child’s Milk Teeth are Important

“Should I go for a dental checkup? It just looks bad now, we can just clean the teeth one day. It's because she eats a lot of chocolate and sometimes refuses to brush. No pain or such now. My child's teeth are strong, she eats meat and all - just like adults. If she has pain we just go to a dentist, we will see it when that happens! Why should I pay for all this dental marketing? I think they are a scam and just unnecessary. Besides they charge a lot. It's just kid's teeth, they will just grow new ones soon. I have had other kids, and they turned out just fine.” - anonymous mom.

This is something which we hear often even from educated parents. Many of us still believe that milk teeth are not important as it falls off and your kid will have a brand new set of permanent teeth. Well, that’s a myth. The fact is that milk teeth have a major role in your child’s ongoing oral health and development. The majority of us believe dental visit for kids is required only in the event of pain or swelling. Pain and swelling are very late stages of the disease process when you end up doing complicated and expensive dental procedures like root canal treatments. Timely dental visits to a pediatric dentist can save you a huge financial burden.

Let’s go through the top reasons why your child’s baby teeth are so important.

1. Chewing food

Children need their teeth to chew food. So, if their teeth are not taken care of enough, it leads to cavities. The child will suffer from discomfort, pain, and abscessed (pus formation) tooth, and also will be unable to eat. This, in turn, could lead to malnourishment affecting their growth.

2. Speech

Milk teeth help in the development of speech. The tongue produces certain sounds with the presence of (primary) teeth. Children have difficulty in learning to pronounce the sounds like “the” and “f” in the absence of their front teeth. Without healthy, properly-aligned teeth, the child may face problems with articulating words and clear speech.

3. Natural space maintainers

Milk teeth also act as the placeholder for the succeeding permanent teeth.  They act as space maintainers and ensure that they shed off at a particular time when the permanent tooth is ready to erupt.

4. Psychological development

Ugly-looking cavities on front teeth could have an emotional impact on a child.  This affects the psychosocial development of a child and teenagers.

Misaligned teeth, discolored teeth, and missing teeth can also lead to loss of confidence.

5. Facial Development

Milk teeth are needed for the normal growth of the jaw bone and give an appropriate shape to the face. Primary teeth control the development of the jaw muscles and the jaw bones so that they are properly developed and can provide suitable space for the permanent set of teeth. Milk teeth give the face its shape and form.

6. Protect Permanent Teeth

Milk teeth are smaller and have thinner enamel, they are more susceptible to tooth decay and cavities. If cavities develop and are not treated, this can hinder permanent tooth development and potentially damage the permanent tooth which develops just beneath the milk teeth.

Aren't these enough reasons why we should take care of milk teeth the same way as we take care of the permanent teeth? Don't forget to visit your Pediatric Dentist as early as when the first teeth erupt into the mouth...  because age-appropriate oral care and preventive protocols from your dentist can prevent many oral problems in the future of your kid.