{"id":1360,"date":"2022-10-20T02:16:20","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T02:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/whats-causing-caries-in-childhood\/"},"modified":"2022-10-20T02:16:20","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T02:16:20","slug":"whats-causing-caries-in-childhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/whats-causing-caries-in-childhood\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Causing Caries in Childhood?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1361\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2022\/10\/childhood-caries-2022_543.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"543\" height=\"543\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2022\/10\/childhood-caries-2022_543.jpg 543w, https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2022\/10\/childhood-caries-2022_543-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2022\/10\/childhood-caries-2022_543-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>TWO OUT OF<\/b> every five kids develop one or more cavity by the time they turn eleven. That makes dental caries the most common disease of childhood. The good news is that it\u2019s very preventable when parents prioritize their kids\u2019 dental health. We\u2019re here to help you do that for your children by identifying the main culprits of childhood tooth decay.<\/p>\n<h3>Oral Bacteria Love Sugar<\/h3>\n<p>As much as kids love sugary treats, harmful bacteria living on the surfaces of their teeth love them even more. <strong>Oral bacteria eat any sugar that remains stuck to the teeth and excrete acid as a waste product.<\/strong> It takes about thirty minutes for saliva to neutralize these acids, so if a child is constantly snacking on something sweet, they\u2019re giving their teeth a never-ending acid bath!<\/p>\n<p>Parents can fight back by swapping some of those sugary snacks for options like sliced fruits and veggies or cheese. This isn\u2019t just healthier for their teeth, but for their whole bodies!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wyN6yI_-VTQ?rel=0\" width=\"543\" height=\"305\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Bottles and Sippy Cups Versus Oral Health<\/h3>\n<p>Sugary snacks aren\u2019t the only problem; <strong>juice and soda are full of sugar and very acidic. Even milk isn\u2019t sugar-free.<\/strong> Sugary drinks are particularly dangerous to a child\u2019s oral health when they are able to sip on them over a long period of time, as that prevents their saliva from neutralizing the acid and washing away the sugar.<\/p>\n<p>The risk of tooth decay from bottles and sippy cups is so high that it\u2019s earned a few scary nicknames like \u201cbaby bottle tooth decay\u201d and \u201cbottle rot.\u201d As with sugary snacks, <strong>we encourage parents to limit sugary drinks<\/strong>. We particularly recommend keeping them to mealtimes instead of letting your child carry them around in a bottle or sippy cup for hours. Water is a much better option for that.<\/p>\n<h3>Other Great Strategies for Parents<\/h3>\n<p>There are plenty of other ways to help your child keep their smile cavity-free aside from cutting back on sugar and limiting it to mealtimes. One is modeling good dental hygiene habits for them with your own brushing and flossing. Positive reinforcement and encouragement are also great, as is giving them an explanation about why brushing and flossing matter so much. <strong>You can also help make it fun for them by letting them choose a toothbrush they like.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One last tip is to avoid spreading oral bacteria by kissing on the mouth, sharing the same spoon, or cleaning off a dropped pacifier with your mouth. <strong>Any of these will introduce more types of bacteria into your child\u2019s mouth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>The Dentist Is the Number 1 Fan of Your Child\u2019s Smile!<\/h3>\n<p>Even when we do all the right things, kids are sometimes prone to dental health troubles for less controllable reasons like genetics or injuries. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to include the dentist when fighting for their cavity-free smile. Dentists have the training and experience to identify oral health problems early on and start fighting back.<\/p>\n<h4>We\u2019re here to help you keep that sweet little smile healthy and bright!<\/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\">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>TWO OUT OF<\/b> every five kids develop one or more cavity by the time they turn eleven. That makes&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176,273,274,275],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[680,1006,1007,348,101,282,37,76,427,91,708,80,75,1008,600,454,621,956,46,601],"class_list":["post-1360","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\/1360"}],"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=1360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1360"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}