FAQ Topics:

• Fillings & Restorative Materials
  
• Dentures
  
• Decay & Disease
  
• Children
  
• Brushing & Tooth Whitening
  
• X-rays
  
• Bad Breath
  

1. When should I take my child to see a dentist?
   

   Ideally, a child should have their first dental experience between the age of 1 and 2 years of age. Your dentist will help prevent any problems and will check for dental decay and other developmental problems. Your dentist will instruct the parent and child how to clean their teeth and identify the need for fluoride to be incorporated with their daily multivitamin. In Suffolk County where the water supply is non-fluoridated, it is important that growing children have the dental benefits of fluoride. Beginning dental visits early minimizes fear and builds a lifetime of good dental habits.

2. Do babies get cavities?
   

   As soon as the primary (or milk teeth) appear in the mouth, they are subject to dental decay (dental caries). A very serious form of decay among infants and your children is termed baby bottle tooth decay. This condition can occur when an infant is allowed to nurse continuously from a bottle filled with milk, formula, fruit juice, or sugar water at nap time or at night. When these carbohydrate-rich liquids pool around the teeth at night during sleep, the teeth will be attacked by the acids for long periods of time leading to tooth decay. This will happen on the upper front teeth at first. Even when an infant is breastfed and mother’s milk is left in the mouth after feeding at night, the same situation can occur. If you must give an infant a nighttime bottle as a pacifier at nap or night time, make sure it only has water in it. Also, do not dip a pacifier in honey or sugar water and give it to a child.

3. Is teething painful for an infant?
   

   When babies are cutting teeth, between the ages of four months to 2 ½ years, they often have sore or tender gums and the process of teething is painful. The pain can be lessened if the parent rubs the infant’s gums with a clean finger, small cool spoon or wet gauze. A clean cold teeth ring may also be helpful. Cutting teeth does not cause a fever. If your child has an elevated temperature, it needs to be addressed by a family physician.

4. When should thumb sucking stop in my child?
   

   Your child should stop sucking his/her thumb by the time the first permanent front teeth are ready to erupt. Usually, most children stop this habit between 2 and 4 years of age as children spend more of their time exploring their surroundings. Peer pressure will cause most school-aged children to stop thumb sucking. When thumb sucking persists with the permanent dentition is in place, the sucking pressure may cause distortions of the front teeth requiring later orthodontic intervention.

5. What if a child loses a primary tooth too early?
   

   Sometimes a child can lose a primary tooth too early due to an accident, dental decay, etc., before the permanent tooth underneath this tooth is ready to erupt. If this tooth is lost early, the adjacent teeth may tip or move into the vacant space. Then, when the permanent teeth are ready to erupt, there may not be enough space for it. This will cause the tooth to erupt in the wrong position or not erupt at all until a much later date. As a result, this will lead to a bad bite (malocclusion). To avoid these costly future problems, your dentist will usually recommend a space maintainer to hold space for the permanent tooth to erupt.