What to do if a 6-year-old child has tooth decay

Most of the time, when children experience tooth decay pain, it is because the pulp of the tooth is damaged. In this case, parents must pay attention to it and take their children to a professional dental hospital as soon as possible for relevant examinations and treatments. If children's tooth decay is not treated in time, it will cause more and more pain and eventually cause serious consequences. During the treatment of tooth decay, you must pay more attention to oral hygiene and develop the habit of brushing your teeth in the morning and evening.

What to do if your child has tooth decay

1. Mild tooth decay: The treatment effect is best in the early stage of tooth decay, but there is no pain in the early stage of tooth decay. When it is discovered in time, the cavities can be filled by choosing appropriate materials. First, the damaged tissue around the cavity is removed, and then filled with appropriate materials to restore the integrity of the tooth surface and prevent the continuation of tooth decay.

2. Moderate tooth decay: In the middle stage of tooth decay, you will feel tooth pain when eating and will be very sensitive to sour and sweet foods. At this time, root canal treatment should be used. Root canal treatment is to remove necrotic materials in the root canal, perform appropriate disinfection, fill the root canal, and then seal the caries cavity, which can effectively treat mid-stage tooth decay.

3. Severe tooth decay: The cavities in the later stages of tooth decay will be particularly obvious, causing severe pain and unbearable suffering. The dental pulp is infected by bacteria and becomes necrotic. The bacteria may even spread from the dental pulp through the tooth root to the nearby periodontal tissues, causing inflammation or abscesses. In this case, the only treatment for the decayed tooth is extraction.

Dental caries is what we call tooth decay and tooth decay, which is mainly caused by the erosion of the tooth surface by the decomposition products of bacteria in the oral cavity. Symptoms include blackening of the teeth, holes in the teeth, with or without pain. No abnormalities can be felt in the early stages, only yellowing or blackening of the tooth surface may be noticed. Over time, especially if you don't pay attention to oral hygiene and allow food residues to remain on the tooth surface, bacteria can break down the sugar in the food to produce acid, which then gradually corrodes the teeth to form black holes. If it continues to affect the dental nerves, it will cause severe pain. Secondary infection of dental caries can form lesions, causing or inducing other systemic diseases such as arthritis, periostitis, chronic kidney disease and various eye diseases. Dental caries should be prevented through health care.

How to prevent tooth decay

There are many details to pay attention to when preventing children from tooth decay, but they are often overlooked.

1. Take good care of yourself during pregnancy. Eating more vegetables, fruits, tea, milk and other foods and drinks containing a certain amount of fluoride will have obvious benefits for children's future tooth development and reduce the chance of tooth decay.

2. Avoid "bottle syndrome" in infants and young children. Bad oral habits such as thumb sucking should also be corrected.

3. Parents should brush their babies' teeth. Before the baby's deciduous teeth erupt, parents can use a square piece of gauze about 5 cm long and wide to dip in light salt water and gently wipe it to remove the plaque on the baby's gums.

4. Perform pit and fissure sealing on newly erupted permanent molars and premolars.

5. Remove retained deciduous teeth in time.

6. Use a space maintainer when necessary to maintain the space between missing teeth, which is conducive to the normal eruption of permanent teeth.

7. It is recommended to eat candy before meals or while drinking water. The best snacks between meals are fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, juice, biscuits or foods such as walnuts, chestnuts and popcorn.

8. The number of times a child eats candy should be controlled to 1-2 times a day, and the amount should be controlled at the same time. Otherwise, the child will keep sugar in the mouth for too long, which will not only limit the neutralizing effect of chemical substances in saliva on bacterial acid production, but also promote the reproduction of bacteria in the mouth.

9. Tea has the effect of protecting teeth, especially for children. Tea can be used as a medicine to prevent tooth decay.