CAVITIES IN YOUR CHILD'S TOOTH?? A COMPLETE COVERAGE

      

           CAVITIES IN YOUR CHILD'S TOOTH???

                                       A COMPLETE COVERAGE.......

PRIMARY TEETH

In humans, there are two sets of teeth. 

First is the milk teeth or deciduous teeth. They start developing before birth and is completed by four years of age. They are lost one by one and by 11years of age all the primary teeth are shed.
The second set of teeth called the permanent teeth starts erupting into the oral cavity by 6-7 years of age.

 The crown portion of all the teeth that we see in the mouth are made up of two hard tissues- Enamel (the outer layer) and Dentin (the inner layer). Milk teeth enamel are softer than that of the permanent teeth and the chemical composition between both are different. Hence, cavity progress faster in the deciduous teeth.

WHAT IS DENTAL CARIES?

It is an infectious transmissible disease. Hence can be transmitted from mother to child.

TYPES OF CARIES IN PRIMARY TEETH:

• Early childhood caries (ECC)

• Severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) (Rampant caries)

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARIES:

EARLY ECC

Presence of 1 or more decayed (cavitated or non-cavitated), missing (due to caries) or filled tooth surface in a child 71 months of age or younger.

May also be associated with iron deficiency.

MODERATE ECC

White spots noted initially.

ADVANCED ECC

White spots then turn brown with loss of enamel. And then turn black with destruction of tooth structure.

CAUSE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD CARIES:

•  Bacteria like Streptococcus mutants starts appearing on the tooth surface as soon as the tooth erupts. 
• But only the presence of bacteria cannot initate caries. 

• In the presence of sticky sugars on the tooth for a prolonged period of time, bacteria acts on the sugar to feed and produce acids which cause tooth decay.

SEVERE EARLY CHILDHOOD (RAMPANT) CARIES:

In children younger than 3 years, any signs of smooth- surface caries.

Therefore enamel hypoplasia is always associated with rampant caries. And malnutrition is found to be the leading cause of enamel hypoplasia.

NURSING BOTTLE CARIES:

Its a type of rampant caries which happens when the sweetened drinks (like milk, formula, fruit juices) or pacifiers dipped in sugar are given, particularly at nap time or at night, stick to the teeth for a long time allowing mouth bacteria to change the sugar to acids that attack the teeth causing tooth decay.

In this type of caries, lower front teeth are spared as these teeth are protected by the position of the tongue.

PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT:

                 To be continued in next blog............

To know more about your child's oral health, contact

GUMS AND TEETH LASER AND DENTAL IMPLANT CENTER  @

                 Mambakkam main road

                 Medavakkam,chennai-100

                 Phone-9962497766

                 mail id-care@gumsandteeth.in

                 Also check us out at www.gumsandteeth.in