Baby teeth are important!!
We recently carried out a survey about importance of milk teeth on instagram and we were quite surprised with the poll results.
57% of the people who voted felt that they're not important!
So then we got into thinking as to why people don’t know of their importance. Is it because they fall off eventually? Well yes, they do fall off but they play a vital role in your child’s developmental processes too. So you should know why they are important and how to care for them!
The first most obvious reason to care for milk teeth is that they help your little one chew their food and digest it better which ensures a good nutritional supply for their growth.
We’re sharing with you a few more important reasons too! A lot of ‘Did you know?’ coming your way!
When a milk tooth gets decayed it is often ignored till it becomes painful. If you ignore this infection it slowly reaches the surrounding bone which hosts the permanent tooth bud. So now this simple decay of a tooth that is going to fall out becomes a source of infection for the upcoming permanent successor. If this infection persists, it may hamper mineralization of the permanent tooth which may erupt with white spots of brownish discolouration. This is known as Turner’s hypoplasia.
Milk teeth allow the tongue to rest against them facilitating pronounciation of various syllables like ‘t’, ‘th’, ‘l’, ‘n’, ‘d’, ‘ch’. When they contact the lip they effect the pronounciation of ‘v’, ‘f’ etc. The space confinement provided by the teeth also helps pronounce ‘s’, ‘sh’ etc better preventing a lisp.
Primary teeth ward off the tongue from unduly pushing forward during swallowing. Early loss of primary teeth often causes excessive pushing of the tongue in the spaces left by a lost tooth that alters the balance of oral musculature. Over the years if your child retains the habit of pushing their tongue forward it may result in flaring and forward placement of the future permanent teeth. It may also result in an open bite of these teeth where the teeth fail to close over each other.
Milk teeth act as natural space maintainers and preserve space for their permanent counterparts. If milk teeth are lost early, the space preserved by them is lost too and leading to inadequate space for eruption of the permanent teeth resulting in their overlap and crowding.
Would you be able to flaunt your smile if your teeth were brownish with decay or crooked and overlapped? It’s the same for your little one. It is important to boost their concept of confidence and self-belief. If they can’t smile freely they might be extremely conscious about themselves and that may affect their self-esteem. So help your little one take care of their teeth and their joy will reflect through their smiles!
Now you know how important milk teeth are so ensure you build an oral care routine for young ones from the day their teeth erupt. Always remember, prevention is better than cure!
