Cleaning teeth of children

Positioning children between the legs of parents is the best way to help them brush their teeth, according to dentists.

By Yoon Ja-young

Hye-bin’s mom wishes that she could turn back the clock. After visiting the dentist, she found out that the three-year-old had cavities in her front teeth. As Hye-bin had a habit of falling asleep while sucking milk from a bottle, the milk residue caused cavities.

Some moms don’t pay attention to the hygiene of babies’ teeth as the primary ones will be replaced later. However, the primary teeth determine dental health for the rest of a person’s life, according to Lee Jae-cheoun, the head of the Seoul Children’s Dental Center (CDC) in Cheongdamdong, southern Seoul.

“Cavities in children proceed very fast. Their tooth often rots after only one month of poor management. In some serious cases, infections in the primary teeth affect the permanent teeth underneath. The cavities can also cause psychological problem as children can feel bad about how they look,” Lee said.

According to Lee, cleaning should start from between three to four months, though most babies haven’t cut their teeth yet. “This is the period when babies prepare to cut their teeth. Massaging their gums will help blood circulation as well as get rid of milk residue. It will also help babies easily get accustomed to teeth cleaning later, lessening trouble for parents,” Lee said.

Parents should wet clean gauze with boiled or mineral water, and lightly dab inside the mouth of the babies, including the tongue, to get rid of the milk residue.

The first teeth will appear from between six to eight months on average. This is the time when parents should pay more attention. Lee recommends a finger toothbrush made of silicone as it is soft. Water is enough, but they can also use a very tiny amount of toothpaste for babies, as small as half the size of a grain of rice. In this case, they should clean the teeth again with wet gauze so that there is no toothpaste residue.

Babies start to cut not only front teeth but also canines and molars between one and two years of age. Now they should use a small toothbrush. Lee recommended letting infants choose the color and design of their toothbrush. They are likely to be happy with those with animation characters they like.

"It isn’t easy to remove dental plaque. You should clean the teeth every day, or it will become harder to remove plaque and this will eventually lead to cavities,” Lee said.

As infants of this age turn independent, they would want to brush their teeth alone. However, Lee says that preschoolers aren’t capable of perfectly brushing their teeth. Hence, moms should brush their teeth once more even though the children can follow a demonstration by their parents. Lee recommends making children lying between the legs of the parents as the best position for brushing their teeth as this way moms can look into their mouth and clean easily.

By three years of age, children will have around 20 teeth. “This is the time when infants start ‘social life’ at nurseries and have more sweets,” Lee said. Regarding food, the dentist pointed out that some health food may be bad for the teeth. “To sum up, food that is sticky, sour, sweet and soft while remaining in the mouth for a long time is bad for teeth,” he said. While parents know that chocolate and candy are bad for teeth, the reality is that they can’t totally block them from children. He thus recommends that parents limit the intake of sweets to once a day and make children immediately brush their teeth. “Parents often overlook fruits. Those sticking to teeth like bananas or those with high acidity like oranges can cause cavities,” he said. Meanwhile, persimmon and pear are among those that are good for teeth, according to the dentist.

He also recommended that they start flossing to prevent cavities between molars. Toothpaste containing fluorine is helpful, but it should be used only when children know how to spit.