Baby teeth are there to take up the role of chewing until adult teeth are ready to move in. Since they're only temporary, parents sometimes think that it doesn't matter too much if they develop cavities. After all, your child will have another shot when they get their adult teeth to do a better job with their oral health maintenance. However, it's important for your child's baby teeth to stay healthy — just as important as it will be for their adult teeth. Here's why.

Complications

When a child develops a cavity or another tooth problem in a baby tooth, it often doesn't stay in the baby tooth.

Sick teeth — like those with deep cavities — can develop infections that can spread into the gums. This can lead to gum disease at a very young age and cause pain and bleeding in the mouth of your child.

Cascading Failure

If gum disease weren't enough of a problem, then you might be alarmed to know that your child losing one baby tooth could result in the loss of more.

This is due to a combination of factors. One of them is gum disease. People with gum disease are more likely to lose teeth, so your child could end up experiencing a sort of cascading failure of multiple teeth going bad after the first one does.

Even without gum disease being to blame, it's possible for a tooth infection to spread to neighboring teeth. They're so close together — especially in a child's mouth — that it's quite easy for bacteria to start attacking neighboring teeth. Without dental care, it could result in the loss of far more than just one tooth.

Crookedness

Finally, your child's baby teeth don't just fall out and then make way for the adult teeth. They instead are there every step of the way on your child's path to developing adult teeth.

This is important because the baby teeth act as a guidepost for the adult teeth. As they're pushed out, the adult teeth move into where the baby tooth was. This results in straight, properly-aligned teeth when a child's tooth is intact and healthy.

If the baby tooth falls out before the adult tooth is ready to move in, it can instead come in crooked. This can lead to the need for braces later on in life.

It's very important to take good care of your child's oral hygiene or to ensure that they're doing it themselves. Make sure that they're going to the dentist on a regular basis for check-ups and cleanings to stay on top of their oral health.

For more information, contact a children's dentist in your area.

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