While it is true that your child will lose all of his 20 baby teeth before his teenage years, how you care for those 20 primary teeth will impact how those 32 permanent teeth come in. Baby teeth act as spacers until the permanent teeth are ready to come in. When decay or injury causes them to fall out early, other teeth can come in crooked and start overcrowding issues.  Remember, tooth decay is tooth decay and baby teeth that decay can pass that bacteria to the permanent tooth even before it makes it through the surface!  This decay can also spread via gum tissue and saliva causing other health consequences as well. Baby teeth are VERY important. Don’t neglect their health! Consider the following 5 roles that baby teeth play. Baby teeth:

Provide Nutritional Benefits Encouraging Proper Chewing

Baby teeth serve an important role in helping your child chew his/her food thoroughly so food can be processed effectively (and safely). The teeth are composed of the hardest substance in the human body – enamel. Teeth tear, cut and grind food so it can be swallowed properly. Chewing also allows enzymes and lubricants to be released to help you digest your food. Each type of tooth serves a different function in the process of chewing. Incisors cut foods when you bite into them and the sharper and longer canines tear the food. Food is mashed with the premolars while the tongue helps to move the food up to our teeth. Without baby teeth in place, the proper chewing, digestion and, ultimately, absorption of nutrients is affected.  

Aid in Speech Development

Successfully producing speech sounds involves coordination between mouth structures and muscles. Lips, teeth, the tongue, cheeks and vocal tract all play a role in speech production.  Although some oral structures have a more important role than others, they all play a part in speech. When one structure is eliminated from the equation, the ultimate product – speech – can be affected. Baby teeth have an important part to play in speech development.

Boost Self-Esteem from a Beautiful Smile

How we feel about our smile impacts so much about how we feel about ourselves. Making efforts to help our children have healthy teeth and gums can help them feel confident in their smiles and want to share them.  Children who lose teeth prematurely due to poor oral hygiene suffer unnecessarily.  Our Mountain Aire Dentistry team can help educate you on ways to help your child’s teeth stay cavity-free and stay in place as long as they should.  

Prevent Dental Pain

Baby teeth protect your gum tissue from harm that can occur when chewing food. Exposed gum tissue from teeth that have fallen out too soon makes the gums more prone to infection and problems and also puts the permanent teeth, below the gums, at more risk for development problems.  Sometimes parents will ask Dr. Bockrath to help with the removal of a baby tooth that is barely hanging on to avoid choking or swallowing issues. If a baby tooth isn’t significantly loose, we prefer not to pull the tooth unless we can confirm on x-ray that there is an adult tooth ready to erupt right behind it.  However, if there is a choking hazard present, the tooth must be pulled.

Save Space for Permanent Teeth

The primary teeth help the permanent teeth erupt in their normal positions. They act as spacers until the permanent teeth are ready. Primary, or baby teeth, hold the space in the jaws required for the correct development of the permanent, adult teeth.  Normally, under healthy, accident-free conditions, a baby tooth will remain in your child’s mouth until the permanent tooth underneath it is almost through the gum surface. The roots of the baby tooth disintegrate when a permanent tooth is ready to erupt allowing the baby tooth to loosen and fall out. If a baby tooth is lost before the permanent tooth was ready to erupt it can cause spatial problems for the adult teeth.  Sometimes it is necessary for a dentist (or orthodontist) to use a dental space maintainer device to fill the place of the primary tooth until the permanent tooth is ready to emerge.

Call for a Baby Teeth Consultation

Baby teeth get injured sometimes, but at Mountain Aire Dentistry, we do all we can to keep baby teeth healthy and in your child’s mouth.   Dr. Bockrath is highly skilled and trained to provide a variety of dental services. Our office is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to ensure you receive the best possible care. Mountain Aire Dentistry is in Broomfield, Colorado, with convenient access to the communities of Thornton, Broomfield, Northglenn and Westminster. Call for your appointment today at  (303) 731-7755. We look forward to meeting you and your family!