Age One Dental Visit
Why It's Important For Your Baby
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Opportunity for Promoting the Entire Family's Health
A child's oral health is closely related to the family's overall dental health and hygiene practices. The Age One Visit can educate parents or caregivers on the importance of their own good oral hygiene.
Children are not born with high levels of cavity-causing bacteria in their mouths. They acquire the bacteria from their caregiver, usually their mother, through close contact. These bacteria are transmitted through kissing, sharing eating utensils like a spoon or a glass, sharing food, or cleaning off a pacifier by mouth. The period when a child is most susceptible to acquiring the decay-causing bacteria is quite short, beginning as early as six months of age and continuing through approximately thirty-one months.
There is mounting evidence that a child's oral health is closely tied to his or her mother's. This is why it is important that caregivers of young children promote their own oral health through regular dental visits and proper hygiene habits. The Age One Visit is a good reminder — and a learning opportunity — for proper hygiene and care.
Diagnosis, prevention, education and treatment — the Age One Visit can cover a lot of ground for your baby's first visit to the dentist. Most importantly, the immediate diagnosis and treatment of emerging dental problems, as well as the long-term attention to good oral hygiene, can help build a foundation of good dental health for your child — and your entire family — that will last a lifetime.
