Mommy! Mommy! Look, I lost my tooth!” Remember when you lost your first tooth? Whether it was from natural causes or because it was tied to a door, that was a special day. Losing baby teeth meant you were growing up. The only time a lot of attention is given to baby teeth is when they are either falling out or growing in. According to most dentists and pediatricians, we need to start giving them more attention on an everyday basis.
“The mouth is the gateway to the body and if it is not in good shape, the rest of the body is not in good shape either,” says Dr. Carol Berkowitz, past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Recent studies have shown that Early Childhood Caries (ECC) has grown at an alarming rate over the last 10 years. Unfortunately, ECC is not a common term and without the knowledge of what it is, ECC can easily be overlooked. Early Childhood Caries is, most simply put, decaying and missing teeth in children five years or younger.
“I am convinced that there needs to be a paradigm shift in the approach to reducing the incidence of this, the most common chronic infectious disease in children under five years of age,” says Dr. Leonard Smith, pediatric dentist in Calgary. Dr. Smith is an advocate of education about ECC and believes that by educating the professionals who deal with it, and parents, we can begin the prevention process.
The numbers suggest that nearly 5 million children in Canada and the US have this disease each year and 25 per cent of those never receive treatment. That means that 1 million children are living with rotting teeth. (The experts have found that 28 per cent of all children under five years of age have some form of tooth decay and that 23 per cent of those never get treatment. That equates to approximately 1.2 million in North America and 112,000 in Canada who may be suffering from malnutrition, sleep deprivation, chronic toothache and chronic infection.)
Anyone who’s had a toothache knows how painful it is, but for children or infants who may not be able to tell anyone what’s wrong, this becomes an everyday suffering that they are living with.
This is only the beginning of a terrible disease. Any child in this situation is likely sleep deprived and malnourished, since eating in that much pain is excruciating. During this time in a child’s life, being malnourished or having a lack of sleep can have long-term effects on their development. According to an article published through Harvard University by the National Scientific Community on the Developing Child, if lower level circuits in the brain are not wired properly early in childhood, it will be that much more difficult for more complex circuits to develop later in life. Since proper nutrition and an overall well-being are very important to the development of a child, it’s easy to see how this disease could have an impact that affects a child for the rest of their life.
One reason ECC occurs is due to a traditional method for helping babies fall asleep. Passed down from mother to mother, a common way to lay an infant down at bedtime is with a soother dipped in honey or sugar, or with a bottle filled with juice; this is how it all starts. You wouldn’t put a one-year-old to bed with a candy to suck on all night long, yet this is the same idea. Sugars take no time at all to start wearing away at a child’s gums and teeth, and letting them lie there all night long with a soother or bottle filled with sugary liquid leaves the perfect breeding ground for ECC. These practices need to stop because not only are they hurting the child, they are affecting the entire household.
When one child is up all night crying it keeps everyone awake, which makes for a very cranky family.
There are many alternatives for how to put a baby to sleep – you just have to keep in mind that every child is different and it takes time. If anyone needs help with putting a baby to bed, there are many resources including books, websites, or even talking to a local pediatrician.
It should seem unbelievable that parents or anyone could let this happen, but it is a major health concern. There are many different reasons as to why this continues such as lack of education, financial issues or even neglect.
What’s most surprising, though, is how easy this is to prevent compared to how much it can cost to be treated. By finding options to putting a child to bed and cleaning the gums and teeth once a day, your child can be healthy with little or no cost to you. If it’s not prevented, it could lead to hundreds of dollars in surgery and dental costs.
“It’s about more than just baby teeth,” says Dr. Smith.
As insignificant as baby teeth may seem at times, if not properly taken care of, they can change a child’s life forever, and not for the better.
With more than 40 years of experience as a pediatric dentist, Dr. Leonard Smith is Chairman and CEO of The Society for a Healthy Mouth, Healthy Child (Alberta) and The Foundation for a Healthy Mouth, Healthy Child (US). He is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, and Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine. For more information, contact Dr. Smith at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.stopecc.com.
Chalsie has a certificate in Fashion Marketing and a Journalism diploma from SAIT. On the side, she coaches figure skating, learn-to-skate and powerskating.
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