Milk tooth decay in young children

Tooth decay in milk teeth is faster. Beginning of injury is the white spot on the enamel surface. Without management, tooth decay will continue to destroy the enamel, and then the dentin and tooth decay will spread.

Several factors related to children's caries

Sugar : Bacteria that cause tooth decay after infecting the oral environment, which will not cause cavities by themselves, need to have a source of sugars available for metabolism to produce acid and this will lead to loss of the mineral yeast Caries.

Plaque : Bacteria that cause tooth decay such as streptococus mutans, lactobacillus acidophillus . converge into a population that contributes to plaque formation. This population of bacteria grows directly to the surface of the tooth that decomposes sugars, facilitating the initiation of tooth decay.

Eating habits :

(Photo: cincinnatichildrens)

There have been many studies showing that tooth decay appeared in children not only due to the amount of fermentation sugar consumed, but also due to the density and the number of uses. So eating habits play an extremely important role. If you eat the sweet substance again in the form of snacks between main meals, it can cause bacteria to ferment and create acidic attacks that almost always occur on the surface of the teeth. Having no habit of hygiene before going to bed is much related to tooth decay. In young children, long-term bottle-feeding or sweet, special pacifiers during sleep can harm teeth.

Teeth : The surface of teeth with a deep hole is easy to deposit food and bacteria, or the teeth are not arranged neatly, crowding together makes it difficult to clean with sanitation, causing a lot of plaque to build up Favorable for tooth decay.

Progress of tooth decay

The progression of tooth decay in milk teeth is similar to that of permanent teeth, but the speed is faster. Initially, tooth decay is the white spot on the enamel surface. If the hardness is measured, it will decrease compared to the yeast. This stage if applying fluoride gel to the tooth surface can recover minerals and white spots will disappear. Without management, tooth decay will continue to destroy the enamel (deep glaze), then to the dentin layer, this stage grows faster than the yeast and the tooth decay will spread. The deep hole is usually round, the mouth is narrow, the width is lower.

The speed of tooth decay development depends on many factors such as the hardness of the tooth organization, the amount of organic fulcrum (matrixprotein), bacterial plaque, quality and frequency of eating .

Milk enamel is thin and rarely reaches 1mm, dentin is also thin and many areas are less calcified so milk caries progress very quickly and entering deep can cause myelitis in about 2-3 months. Milk tooth decay is often diffuse, very sensitive, if the marrow becomes inflamed, the child is very painful when there are stimulating factors such as hot, cold, sour, sweet, food penetrates into the deep hole and can hurt naturally into bouts and much pain at night. When the teeth are already deep, the treatment will be more complicated and the child's cooperation will be more difficult.

Function of milk teeth

There is a view that milk tooth decay is not a problem because it will be replaced by permanent teeth anyway, but it is a misconception because when the baby tooth decay is very painful, it affects the chewing and health of the child. young; Early extraction of milk teeth for young children is very difficult; Permanent tooth germs can be damaged by abscesses around the roots of milk teeth; Permanent teeth may grow in the wrong position if the baby teeth are extracted too early. Therefore, milk tooth decay also needs treatment.

Function of milk teeth : Cut, tear, chew and crush food. This function helps children chew well, from which new children can digest well and develop normally.

Placeholder function : Baby teeth keep around the jaw to help the permanent teeth grow up in the right position. When performing the movement of chewing milk teeth will stimulate the growth of the jaw bone, especially the height of the arch. Early loss of baby teeth is a factor that contributes to the occlusion of permanent teeth and affects the temporomandibular joint later.

Pronunciation function : Early loss of front teeth can make speech difficult.

Cosmetic function :

Need for baby daily hygiene (Photo: about.com)

Losing early incisors will make children feel guilty. Baby teeth when deeply injured, parents find relatively easy by symptoms such as children will pain when eating or natural pain, pain at night or seeing the tooth surface is damaged into holes and dark color changes at deep hole. At that time, it is necessary to take the child to a doctor's office right away for a proper treatment.

Dental cavities

- Strengthening the resistance of hard tooth tissue by using fluoride measures (using fluoride tablets, fluoridating salt, fluoridating drinking water) or on the spot (fluoride toothpaste, fluoride mouthwash); provide a balanced diet for both mother and child.

- Inhibiting the effect of plaque bacteria by mechanical methods: brushing teeth, removing plaque by chemical and biological methods such as gargling with antiseptic such as chlorhexidine .

- Limiting the effect of acid production of sugars by adjusting, controlling dietary regime and habits.

According to the baseline survey in 1985 of the Institute of maxillofacial teeth in Hanoi: In children 2 years of age 3.67% suffered from tooth decay, in children 3 years old 17.21% had tooth decay, in children aged 4 years 34.45% had tooth decay .

Survey data in 1995 on some students in Hanoi school (3-9 years) showed that the rate of milk tooth decay in 3-year-old children was 43%, in children 6 years of age was 60.1%, in children 9 years old is 64.7%.

Doctor Ngo Minh Phuc