Dr Tiv’s Tips for Avoiding Dental Decay in Kids
Dental decay is increasing in our children and it isn’t necessarily because they aren’t brushing their teeth! Unfortunately many parents underestimate the importance of their children’s baby teeth, yet baby teeth hold the space for adult teeth and proper care can prevent orthodontic problems later in life.
So what are the main causes of dental decay in our kids?
Sugar consumption
Consumption of soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit juices and cordial contribute to children’s dental decay. Also regularly eating foods, which may be perceived as healthy such as honey, milo and muesli bars can cause problems.
The frequency of sugar intake, rather than the amount your child is consuming, is the real concern. For example, if your child has fruit juice or an energy drink in their water bottle at school and they take frequent sips of it throughout the day, their teeth will be regularly attacked by the acid from the drink, which can start the decay process in teeth.
Tank and bottled water
Many Peninsula families drink their own tank water. Whilst this is a fantastic initiative for our State’s water levels, our main concern is that tank and bottled water doesn’t contain fluoride, where as mains water does. Families who aren’t on mains water should consider increasing their children’s fluoride intake through appropriate toothpastes.
One of our mantras at Balnarring Dental Centre is that prevention is far better than cure. Unfortunately when someone starts to feel pain it usually means that tooth decay is well developed and more difficult to resolve, so it’s important that we catch problems early.
Did you know that the Federal Government has introduced a Child Dental Benefit Scheme? Eligible children aged 2-17 can be provided up to $1000 every two years for dental services. If your family is eligible, your child will have access to procedures such as examinations, x-rays, cleaning, fissure sealing, fillings, root canals and extractions.
For families not eligible for the Child Dental Benefit Scheme, Balnarring Dental Centre offers children’s check-ups with no gap payment for people with private health cover. Alternatively, if you don’t have private health care, you pay just $23 for each child’s checkup, which is cheaper than most community dental clinics.
At Balnarring Dental Centre we are focused on ensuring children’s dental services are affordable because we care about the dental health of kids in our community.
If you have any questions about your family’s dental needs please call our friendly receptionist Jacinta on 5983 5348 to organise an appointment.
19 Balnarring Rd, Balnarring 3926
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