Preventing Cavities Begins in Infancy

It’s midnight, the baby is crying — still — and you’re thinking, “If I can just get him to fall asleep with a bottle of formula, we can all get a decent night’s rest.”

Allowing extended contact with a bottle of juice or formula may be a short-term comfort now, but in the long term it can lead to serious decay that dentists call Baby Bottle Syndrome.

The naturally occurring sugars in juice, breast milk or formula feed oral bacteria that secrete acid strong enough to dissolve tooth enamel. Front teeth are most likely to be affected because they  have the longest potential exposure. Baby teeth begin to appear when infants are about 6 months old, but most babies continue to use a bottle until after their first birthday.

“We see lots of well-intentioned parents and caregivers put their babies to sleep with a bottle or sippy cup full of formula or juice, but that’s a bad practice to start and a tough one to stop,” says Dr. Louis Amendola, D.D.S., the chief dental director of Western Dental Services, Inc., a dental HMO in California.

The decay can spread aggressively, leading to near total destruction of teeth. As a result, the child may need extensive restoration, crowns or procedures to remove the  tooth’s live tissue. Extensive cavities can make babies sensitive to hot and cold temperatures and affect their ability to bite and chew. Frequently, badly decayed teeth must be extracted, which can interfere with speech and the development of permanent teeth.

If babies must have a bottle or cup for comfort, it’s better to fill it with plain water, says Dr. Amendola.

If  the baby is already hooked on a bottle of formula for comfort, gradually dilute the contents with water until the baby is weaned from the decay-causing liquids.

Of course, the best solution is prevention. Dr. Amendola suggests that parents let every caregiver know that baby bottles aren’t to be used as pacifiers, but only for nutrition.

Explore posts in the same categories: Babies and Oral Health

Tags: baby bottle syndrome, cavities, preventing cavities, tips from western dental, tooth decay

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