Anything your child does as a new parent will scare you to death. Did they just vomit up their food? You’re wondering what could be wrong. Are they crying more than normal? Visions of an internal injury or illness wander through your head. It’s a common fact that new parents will worry themselves sick about any and every little thing with their newborn. And that’s okay, because it’s part of the experience. You’re trying your best to protect your little one. So, it’s no different when you’re a new parent and your first born is going through teething phases, causing you to be confused and lost as to how you should help them cope with their teething. Should you let them have their pacifier for as long as they need? We wanted to dispel a few things while explaining teething. To start, teething occurs when an infant's first baby teeth begin to emerge through the gums. This is also known as tooth eruption. More than anything, you need to know that baby teeth are very important in early child development, as they prepare a child’s mouth by finding a healthy place for their permanent teeth to grow in later on. And since baby teeth are in your child’s mouth for almost ten years, it’s quite important that proper care is maintained in order to pave the way for a healthy adult mouth. Baby teeth will begin coming in around three to six months, so expect more and more teeth to erupt during this time period. It may be a time of some pain and crying for your infant, but all babies go through it, so you needn’t worry. A few other reasons that baby teeth are so important include helping your child to eat and chew food more easily and speak more clearly. Considering these are very important developmental phases your child will need to go through, keeping a close eye on their teeth is important. If I could give you one piece of advice that stands out among all the rest, it’s to remember that baby teeth are just as prone to cavities as any of your own permanent teeth. It may not be a fact you want to hear, but more than half of all children will experience cavities in some capacity before they turn five years old. Just make sure to teach them proper oral hygiene at a young age, as this will help them to respect their dental health later on down the road.
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Just like anything else, change isn’t always easy to go through when you’re incredibly new to something. And when this change is something that manifests in the form of using your body in a different way, things can really take awhile to relearn. Imagine having a new hand that’s bionic. Do you think you’d master use of the hand in just a few days? Definitely not. It takes time to completely learn again how to use your body, especially since everything becomes so normal and autonomous over the course of your life. From learning to use just one eye instead of both to relearning how to walk or talk after a particularly bad stroke, life can be tough to jump back into when things aren’t as they once were.
Something a lot of people write off as “easier” to learn are dentures. These actually are tough to learn to use properly when you first get them, which can be embarrassing for you if you’re struggling with talking or eating normally. Considering these two actions are some of the most prevalent things we do in day to day life, it can be extremely frustrating to always worry about it or spend a lot of time relearning them. But I’m here to say you shouldn’t worry too much, especially since you’re just like everyone else who is new to dentures. It takes time to get used to your new teeth, so there’s absolutely no other way to get back to eating and talking like normal than time and practice. Speaking in particular will take awhile to catch onto, but at the very least it’s not something that you can harm your dentures with when practicing, and it can be particularly humorous if you approach it the right way. You’ll first hear a hissing when you say anything with an “S” sound or “Th” sound, but if you learn to laugh it off and keep up with the practice, things should be fine. The same goes with eating, though it may be more annoying to deal with than speaking at first since it may hurt or cause discomfort. So long as you’re talking to your dentist about what works best for fit and eating drills, you’ll eventually overcome the annoyances and be a pro at eating once again. (Who ever would’ve thought that we’d all be considered as “pros” at eating food when it seems so normal? Just goes to show you that nothing should be taken for granted.) When you’re new to something, your emotions and daily schedule can be ridden with anxiety about perfecting that new task or caring for that new pet. But this feeling never truly peaks in life until you have your first child. And as if it doesn’t get any worse, all the rumors and comments you’ve ever heard are true: you’ll be scared to death. The good thing is, as your baby gets older, this fear of something happening dissipates since you’ll learn to become more confident in what your child needs and what their health is like. One thing that is interesting to monitor at first is the growth of their teeth, especially if you’re a new parent and your first born is going through teething phases. But if you have a second or third child that has begun teething and your first never did, you may be confused and lost as to how you should help them cope with their teething. The first thing to remember is that teething occurs when an infant's first baby teeth begin to emerge through the gums, which is also known as tooth eruption. Teething may start as early as 3 months old or as late as 12 months or more. As you know, this is a wide time frame considering how much your infant will grow mentally and physically over this period of time, but with all things related to infants, there’s a range of typical normality. What you do need to know, though, is that baby teeth are very important in early child development. Without baby teeth, permanent teeth wouldn’t know where to grow down the road. And since teeth help your child to eat more efficiently and learn to speak eventually, their presence is much welcomed as an important part of their overall growth while still young.
It’s also important to keep in mind that the last of your infant’s 20 baby teeth should be in by 3 years old, so it could take a long time from the first tooth’s eruption to the last tooth’s final emergence. Finally, it’s incredibly important to focus on the health and cleanliness of your infant’s teeth. Cavities are just as bad in baby teeth as they are in adult teeth, and it’s worth noting that more than half of children will have a cavity before they turn 5. It’s important to stay vigilant in taking care of your child’s teeth so that they can avoid cavities and have healthy growth when their adult teeth finally emerge around age 6. |
Benedict Silverman
Health Blogger, Traveler ArchivesCategories
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