Don’t wait until your teeth rot before you regret it! How to protect your teeth? Experts suggest...

It's the start of another school year.

For many parents, the return of their children is a cause for celebration, but there are still some practical problems that are daunting. For example, children's teeth. Take dental disease as an example. Once it reaches a certain level of severity, treatment can no longer be cured in one or two times.

Therefore, when the academic pressure is not so great at the beginning of the school year, you may want to check whether your teeth are ready and make an appointment with the dentist as soon as possible if necessary.

01

Dental problems of “divine beasts”

The so-called "divine beasts" refer to children from kindergarten to high school. Teachers and parents focus on their school age, while dentists focus on their "tooth" age. The so-called "tooth" age here does not refer to the tooth age of a specific tooth, but to the age stage of the entire dentition . From kindergarten to high school, the tooth development of "divine beasts" goes through three stages: the deciduous dentition period (before 6 years old, preschool period), the mixed dentition period (6 to 12 years old, school age) and the permanent dentition period (12 to 18 years old, adolescence). In the above stages, there are two more prominent dental problems: tooth decay and maxillofacial deformities .

· Tooth decay

It is undeniable that tooth decay is a common disease among people of all ages. However, the susceptibility to tooth decay varies among people of different ages, and the high incidence of caries in primary teeth and permanent teeth is between 5 and 8 years old and between 12 and 15 years old, respectively . Preventing tooth decay can be considered the top priority for the “divine beasts” to prevent dental diseases.

Tooth decay during this period can have many negative effects on your health:

The chewing function of teeth will be reduced due to tooth decay, which may affect nutritional intake;

Premature loss of deciduous teeth due to severe caries may lead to inadequate jaw development or delayed eruption of permanent teeth, thus increasing the possibility of maxillofacial deformities.

The first permanent molar plays an important role in the entire permanent dentition. If pulpitis, apical periodontitis or even loss occurs due to tooth decay, it will have an adverse effect on the chewing function and the normal occlusion relationship between the upper and lower teeth; severe caries of deciduous teeth may even cause systemic diseases.

Early detection and early treatment are very important for the outcome of tooth decay. Stopping the development of tooth decay as early as possible is beneficial to retain more healthy tooth tissue on the one hand; on the other hand, it can avoid greater involvement of the adjacent tissues of the lesion. If the tooth decay lesions are limited to the hard tissues of the teeth, then a simple grinding and filling of the teeth will be enough; if the lesions involve the soft tissues of the teeth - the pulp, the situation will become more difficult . At this time, there may be two states of the pulp: one is reversible inflammation, and a conventional filling can be performed after the pulp inflammation is eliminated; the other is irreversible inflammation, and root canal treatment is required at this time.

Compared with adults, it is more difficult for "divine animals" to receive root canal treatment:

1. " Divine beasts" tend to have a poor tolerance for pain. Root canal treatment is usually divided into three steps, namely root canal preparation, root canal disinfection and root canal filling , and these three steps cannot be completed in one go. If pulp inflammation even affects the tissues around the root, then root canal treatment is even less likely to be completed in one go. Whether root canal treatment can be successfully completed will become a headache for parents.

2. The teeth of the "divine beasts" are more complicated. Many people may think that the teeth that grow out are fully developed teeth. But in fact, the development of different structures of teeth is sequential, that is, the crown develops first and the root develops later.

When teeth first grow out, the roots are not fully formed. The professional name for such teeth is "young permanent teeth". If pulp inflammation has already occurred and is in an irreversible state, root canal treatment cannot be performed directly. Instead, apex induction should be performed first. In other words, it is to help the root continue to develop until a normal root is formed. Not being able to perform root canal treatment directly will become something that parents will not expect.

Image source: Reference 1

Dentofacial deformity

With the improvement of living standards, the refinement of food has also increased. However, with it, there are more and more cases of maxillofacial deformities. The reasons include insufficient jaw development , abnormal eruption of permanent teeth or shedding of deciduous teeth , and even the influence of some bad habits , such as sucking fingers, sticking out tongue, biting lower lip, mouth breathing, etc. Early detection and early diagnosis are very important for preventing maxillofacial deformities. The significance of receiving a specialist examination as soon as possible is to understand the severity and possible causes of maxillofacial deformities in a timely manner, and take appropriate measures according to the doctor's advice, such as correcting bad habits or receiving corrective treatment in a timely manner. Although the concept of "appearance is justice" is not desirable, appearance does affect children's self-confidence, so the prevention of maxillofacial deformities cannot be underestimated. Of course, maxillofacial deformities will also bring corresponding dental health problems, such as teeth with crowded dentition are more prone to tooth decay .

02

Arrange specialist examinations and treatments!
Since tooth decay is the top priority in dental disease prevention, it cannot be taken lightly. Tooth decay screening can not only detect tooth decay as early as possible and remedy it in time, but also take more effective professional preventive measures for teeth prone to tooth decay, such as fluoride coating or pit and fissure sealing .

Fluoride coating is suitable for all teeth, while fissure sealing is suitable for teeth with deep pits and fissures , generally speaking, molars, especially the first permanent molars, which are the key targets of fissure sealing. Although dentists always regard careful brushing as the first line of defense for dental care, in fact, brushing cannot clean all parts of the tooth surface.

The pits and fissures on the occlusal surface of the teeth are one of the parts that cannot be cleaned by brushing teeth, and pit and fissure sealing is the solution to this problem.

The essence of pit and fissure sealing is to completely block the passage for bacteria to enter the inner part of the tooth from the occlusal surface of the tooth. It is worth noting that pit and fissure sealing is a dental disease prevention technology, not a treatment technology . For tooth decay that has already occurred in pit and fissure caries, pit and fissure sealing is "too late to mend the fold after the sheep have been lost".

For maxillofacial deformities, early treatment is not necessarily necessary, but early examination is indeed very important . Only through specialist examination can the problem be discovered early, and a scientific and reasonable treatment strategy be determined. The best time for corrective treatment should also be determined by a professional orthodontist.

03

How do children protect their teeth?

Although doctors have always emphasized that the habit of dental care should be developed "from childhood", during the period of primary dentition, the first person responsible for dental care is the parent, not the child himself. Therefore, the quality of children's teeth at this stage is a test of the parents' awareness and ability of dental care .

As a parent, you should know the following:

1. It is very important to use fluoride toothpaste . Don’t be fooled by so-called advertisements and refuse to use fluoride toothpaste.

The standard amount of fluoride toothpaste for children aged 2.3 to 6 years is the size of a pea;

3. The circular brushing method is suitable for children. The most notable feature of this method is to use the toothbrush to make circular motions on the surface of the teeth. This method is simple to operate and is convenient for parents to brush their children's teeth.

4. Electric toothbrush is not the best choice at this stage .

Image source: Reference 1

Starting from the mixed dentition period, children can be gradually trained to form self-care habits, that is, the person responsible for dental care gradually shifts from parents to children. Children can continue to use the arc brushing method to clean their teeth, or they can start to learn the modified BASS brushing method . No matter which method is used, the most important point is to brush teeth thoroughly without missing any places. It is not recommended to use electric toothbrushes during the stage of learning how to brush teeth . The main disadvantage of using electric toothbrushes is that it will make users dependent on them, thus ignoring the importance of mastering brushing skills. Although it is often said that "handskill is not as good as household tools", it is difficult to do a good job of oral health care with "house tools" alone. Only with "handskill + household tools" can electric toothbrushes play a more powerful role.

Considering that "divine beasts" are more susceptible to tooth decay and the various impacts and treatment difficulties it brings, as well as the possibility of dentofacial deformities, parents should help them eliminate dental health risks as early as possible. The earlier tooth decay is discovered and the more timely the remediation is, the less tooth tissue is lost, the fewer times treatment is needed, and the less pain the child experiences; and the earlier the dentofacial deformity is examined, the earlier the possible causes are understood, the greater the possibility of preventing the development of the deformity, and the less impact the deformity has on appearance and dental health. In particular, the correction of dentofacial deformities is often a long-term process, and parents must plan ahead to balance academic studies and dental health.

Author: Fu Rao

Review | Rong Wensheng, Chief Physician of the Department of Prevention, Peking University School of Stomatology, Doctoral Supervisor of Stomatology; Vice Chairman of the Oral Prevention Committee of the Chinese Stomatological Association; Secretary General of the Oral Health Care Committee of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association; Executive Vice Secretary General of the China Dental Disease Prevention and Control Foundation; Chief Scientific Communication Expert on Oral Health of the China Association for Science and Technology; Public Health Committee Member of the World Dental Federation; Member of the Oral Health Committee of the World Federation of Public Health Associations

References:

[1] Hu Deyu, editor-in-chief. Oral Preventive Medicine (6th Edition) [M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2012.

[2] Fan Mingwen, editor. Endodontics (4th edition) [M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2012.

This article is produced by the Science Popularization China-Creation Cultivation Program. Please indicate the source when reprinting