{"id":1264,"date":"2021-12-15T20:51:10","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T20:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/gum-disease-in-children\/"},"modified":"2021-12-15T20:51:10","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T20:51:10","slug":"gum-disease-in-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/gum-disease-in-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Gum Disease in Children"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2021\/12\/child-gum-disease-2021_543.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"543\" height=\"543\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2021\/12\/child-gum-disease-2021_543.jpg 543w, https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2021\/12\/child-gum-disease-2021_543-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2021\/12\/child-gum-disease-2021_543-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>SOME HEALTH ISSUES<\/b> only impact adults, but gum disease is not one of them. Oral bacteria doesn\u2019t wait for us to get older, so kids and teenagers are also at risk of developing gingivitis and more severe forms of periodontal disease.<\/p>\n<h3>What Causes Gum Disease?<\/h3>\n<p>The main cause of gum disease in young children is poor oral hygiene. If plaque is left to build up on the teeth until it hardens into tartar, the gums become more vulnerable to irritation and inflammation.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a slightly different story for teenagers because the flood of hormones that comes with puberty can increase blood flow to the gums and make them more sensitive. Girls are more susceptible to this problem than boys, but <strong>more than half of teenagers have some form of gum disease<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x6vtFro_Hdo?rel=0\" width=\"543\" height=\"305\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Parents Can Watch for These Signs<\/h3>\n<p>Children lack the life experience to easily recognize when something is wrong, even if they\u2019re experiencing discomfort, so <strong>they might not think to give you a detailed description of their symptoms<\/strong> of gum disease. This can be a real problem because gum disease can worsen over time and it could be more advanced by the time they\u2019ve noticed. Fortunately, there are signs parents can keep an eye out for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bleeding gums during brushing or flossing<\/li>\n<li>Swollen and reddened gums<\/li>\n<li>Gum recession<\/li>\n<li>Constant bad breath regardless of brushing and flossing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Preventing and Treating Gum Disease<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s wonderful if your child doesn\u2019t have gum disease, but the fight to maintain healthy gums is continuous. Good dental hygiene habits are essential, <strong>so be sure to set an example by brushing twice a day and flossing daily<\/strong> and helping them follow that example. Schedule regular dental checkups for your kids and teens, because the dentist can catch problems early when they\u2019re easier to reverse and professional cleanings are the only way to remove built-up tartar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Preventing a dental problem is always preferable<\/strong> to treating it once it appears, but it is very possible to fight back against existing gum disease with these same methods: good dental hygiene habits and regular dental appointments.<\/p>\n<h3>Let\u2019s Work Together for Healthy Gums!<\/h3>\n<p>Childhood is an important time for a person\u2019s oral health, because it\u2019s the time to learn and build the habits that will keep our teeth and gums healthy for the rest of our lives. Parents and dentists can work together to give kids a great headstart on good oral health. They\u2019ll be able to defeat gum disease and build all the tools they need for a lifetime of healthy smiles!<\/p>\n<h4>We can\u2019t wait to see you and your child!<\/h4>\n<h6>Top image used under <span style=\"color: #2a7abd;\"><a style=\"color: #2a7abd;\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/share-your-work\/public-domain\/cc0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CC0 Public Domain license<\/a><\/span>. Image cropped and modified from original.<\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #d9d9d9;\">The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>SOME HEALTH ISSUES<\/b> only impact adults, but gum disease is not one of them. Oral bacteria&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176,273,274,275],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[101,767,768,350,769,770,771,301,352,287,37,473,772,773,427,91,80,355,156,774],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-dental-posts","category-general-dental","category-pediatric","category-176","category-273","category-274","category-275","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}