Phone: 910-778-8485 fax: 910-436-8485

2980 Ray Road Spring Lake NC 28390 Near Overhills Schools

Vincent Vissichelli, DMD

Board Certified Pediatric Dentist

Specializing in the treatment of infants, children, teens and special needs patients.

Patient Forms

Dental Emergencies

Knowing how to handle your child’s dental emergency can mean the difference between saving or losing a tooth. We recommend the following tips on what to do for your child in case of:

Knocked-Out Tooth: If the tooth is dirty, rinse it gently in running water. Do not scrub it or remove any attached tissue fragments. Gently insert and hold the tooth in its socket. If this is not possible, place the tooth in a cup of cool milk. Go to your dentist with the knocked-out tooth immediately (within 20 minutes if possible). Use the ADA-accepted tooth preservation kit to keep knocked out teeth if available.
Toothache: Rinse the mouth with warm water to clean it and use dental floss to remove any food that might be trapped between the teeth. Do no place aspirin on the aching tooth or gum tissues and see your dentist as soon as possible.

Why take care of baby teeth?

Taking good care of your child’s teeth must start even before the first tooth appears.  You can prevent tooth decay in your child by following good dental habits.

 

Tooth decay can develop as soon as the first tooth erupts.  Brushing every day may not be enough to prevent it.  If tooth decay is not prevented it can be costly to treat.  If left untreated, it can destroy the teeth.  This can cause infection, early loss of baby teeth, crooked adult teeth, and decay in adult teeth.

Baby Your Infant’s Teeth

New parents may not realize the importance of caring for their infant’s baby teeth. It is important to bring your child in for the first dental exam by age 1. Serious tooth decay may develop by the child’s first birthday. Even though the child’s teeth will eventually be replaced with permanent ones, they are critical for proper chewing, speaking, and appearance.
Early Childhood Caries which used to be called – baby bottle tooth decay,  nursing-bottle or nursing –mouth syndrome, is a condition that can destroy the teeth of an infant or young child. It develops when a baby frequent receives a bottle or sippy cup of milk, formula, fruit juice, or sweetened liquids. It may result when the child is allowed to fall asleep with a bottle during naps or at bedtime. Prolonged demand breastfeeding may also cause this condition. Although the teeth most likely to be damaged are the upper front teeth, others may be affected.
Tooth decay is caused by bacteria, which are present in a thin film of plaque that constantly forms on the teeth. The bacteria in plaque use sugar to produce acid, which attacks tooth enamel. If sugary liquid is allowed to remain in the mouth, acid can attack teeth for several minutes. Tooth decay can occur after frequent, repeated acid attacks.
It’s not just what children drink, but how often and for how long their teeth are exposed to decay-causing acids. For example, if you offer a bottle containing sugary liquid as a pacifier many times a day, the teeth experience more acid attacks. Allowing a child to fall asleep with a bottle during a nap or at night also can harm teeth. While the baby sleeps, the flow of saliva decreases. Harmful sugary liquids collect and remain around the teeth, inviting acid attacks.
You can prevent this by watching what you give your baby between regular feedings. A nursing bottle should not be uses as a pacifier or as an aid to help baby sleep unless it contains plain water. Don’t dip pacifiers in a sweet liquid and don’t add sugar to baby’s food to try and make it taste better. Children can be taught to drink from a cup as they approach their firs birthday. This will eliminate prolonged bottle feeding or using a bottle as a pacifier.
Children should receive an optimal amount of fluoride, a mineral needed for the development of decay-resistant teeth. Whether or not you live in a community that has fluoridated water, you should ask your dentist about how your child can get the right amount of fluoride.
We recommend you begin brushing as soon as the baby’s first tooth appears. Ensure that your baby has a healthy diet with limited surgery containing foods and drinks between meals. Visit the dentist by the child’s first birthday.

8 Facts about tooth Eruption

1.  The first tooth eruption is usually between 4 and 15 months of age.

2.  If eruption of the first tooth has not occurred by 18 months, make an appointment to see your pediatric dentist.

3.   Premature and low birth weight babies can have
delayed primary tooth eruption and enamel defects,
putting them at higher risk for decay.

4.   Eruption is usually lower teeth before upper teeth.  The lower front teeth are the first to erupt and the first to be replaced by permanent teeth.

5.    To remember the timing of the first 4 teeth erupt at 7 months then every 4 months 4 more teeth erupt until at 27 months all 20 baby teeth should have erupted.

6. For permanent teeth Eruption starts between 5 to 7 years and finishes by 13 to 14 years old except for wisdome teeth (third molars)

7.  It is common to see permanent teeth erupt behind
the primary incisor teeth in the lower jaw. This
typically resolves itself without intervention.
8.  The first permanent molars erupt behind the last baby tooth around 6 years of age.

 

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