Since more than a year, one tooth of my 3.5-year-old daughter has started to deteriorate. Recently, two more teeth are getting affected. This is due to not getting her teeth brushed up properly and regularly.
Now what measures should be taken to care for it and to rectify the situation? As these teeth are temporary, when will these come out and new permanent ones come?
Step 1: See a dentist, have cavities treated asap. Yes, these teeth will fall out, but until then, they act as placeholders for the permanent teeth. There are also sources that claim the deciduous teeth are important for the development of the permanent teeth. (Which will start to appear at around five to seven, that's quite different between kids.) And frankly, untreated your daughter is in for a lot of pain if you don't act now. If the teeth are in really bad shape, a good dentist might suggest sedating her to treat the cavities. While this sounds extreme, it may be a good choice, because conciously having multiple teeth treated is no picknick for a 3.5 year old. Ask around for recommendations, you want a dentist that is good, patient and gentle with children and takes his time, not just one that does a good job with the teeth alone.
Step 2: Start brushing teeth as recommended: At least twice a day using toothpaste with appropriate fluoride content and as per recommended technique. Your dentist or the Internet can guide you. Brushing teeth is the parent's responsibility until the child's dexterity is quite good. Until then, let the child brush first to practise, then finish. Rule of thumb: by the age of seven or eight, they should be ready. A 3.5 year old can't manage this.
Step 3: Visit the dentist regularly, typically twice a year. This not only prevents fear in the child, but ensures small starting cavities can be treated before they become problematic. A good dentist will also help you with proper technique, because he sees the spots you might be missing when brushing her teeth.
Going to the dentist only if you are in pain might establish a bad pattern for life.
We have a 3.5 year old with a similar problem. We took him to a dentist who gave us a $2000+ recommendation, 4 root canals. We went to get a second opinion. The second dentist suggested we do the following:
We started this over a year ago and met with the dentist every 3 months to check on the teeth. so far so good. The dentist thinks we have a 70% chance that the teeth will last until the adult teeth come in. Both dentists are pediatric dentists. They had drastically different approaches.
Baby teeth fall out in the order the came in. Starting at around 5 years old.
You really want to meet with a dentist who can check up and make sure its not getting worse. Just letting the teeth decay for the next 3-6 years could lead to some big problems as noted by the other answers.
There's multiple things that should be done to address it, from education to seeing a dentist. A child not brushing their teeth, in and of itself, doesn't cause tooth decay... the bacterial waste from specific types of compounds, such as sugar, are what causes the decay (in conjunction with acidic food items which dissolve enamel).
Everyone likes sweet foods, as our brains are hardwired to respond pleasurably to sugar, however children have to be rationed on it for reasons from oral hygiene to body weight. This doesn't mean one should go to either extreme, but removing sugary drinks from their diet will help enormously. Combine teeth that are regularly being bathed in sugar with then not being cleaned is a recipe for decay (this also happens to be what causes Meth Mouth in Methamphetamine addicts, which was thought to be due to the harshness and toxicity of Meth, until it was discovered otherwise a few years back).
Above all else, the easiest way to make a child embrace a skill they need to have is to make it into a sort of game, combined with positive [not negative] reinforcement. Make it an activity where you or the other parent brushes their teeth alongside the child, as monkey see, monkey do. Children learn most by watching others, especially their parents. To get a child into the habbit of brushing, make it fun for them... have them pick out the character of tooth brush they want, allow them to pick out the toothpaste and mouthwash they find cool and like.
Make sure your child's toothpaste contains fluoride and use the amount recommended on the tube.
Establish twice-daily tooth-cleaning as non-negotiable. If all else fails, do it by force. This may be very difficult but if you persevere, your child will come to accept it.
With a bit of luck you can think of better ways to get it done. Here are a few ideas:
You might find she does not like the whole toothpaste experience; either the strong taste, and/or the foaming action. My young child found "Oranurse" toothpaste much easier to take. Weak flavour, 1450ppm of fluoride and it does not foam up.
Fact is you both have lessons to learn. You to ensure this is resolved and to ensure your new child does not suffer similarly. She to ensure she suffers no more.
Part of the future is to make yourself aware of what drinks and foods will do damage to your children. When they do have something with sugar in then give them milk or cheese afterwards as these take the PH in the mouth back towards neutral. Water does not do it anywhere near as effectively.
You are in a position to support her by making sure it doesn't happen again.
