We are lucky as humans to have two sets of teeth. But many people think of the baby teeth as a sort of “practice” or “disposable” set of teeth. That it is not important to care for them, because the child will be getting a new set later. And that having one or more of them pulled is not a big deal. I am here to tell you that couldn’t be further from the truth. It is highly important that as parents, you take good care of the baby or primary teeth. They serve many important functions.
• Tools for proper chewing of their food
• An aesthetic function to look as everyone else looks
• Space maintenance for the permanent teeth so they have room to erupt properly
The first function is the obvious one. People, including children, need teeth to chew their food. The more teeth they have, the better the food can be broken down, and the better their digestion is. It also allows for a greater variety of foods to be consumed. Many of the fresh fruits and vegetables that our bodies need are crispy, firm, or even slightly hard, and require a full complement of hard, sharp teeth to chew them.
Aesthetics is an important function as well. As children get older, they compare themselves to other children to decide if they are “normal”. When a child loses a tooth, especially a front tooth, prematurely, they may go for some time with a missing tooth that makes them feel self-conscious. Our self-esteem/how we feel about ourselves starts early. It is good when a child can feel like his/her other friends or classmates.
Lastly, and probably most importantly, the baby teeth serve as space maintainers for the permanent teeth to erupt into their proper position in the mouth. Let’s say for example, that a child has a very large cavity in a back baby tooth. It’s the second to the last baby tooth. It is not restorable because the child was not taken to the dentist early enough to catch the cavity when it was smaller. It needs to be removed or it will get infected, which can cause damage to the underlying tooth if left untreated. The parent decides they are not going to place a space maintainer, which is a small orthodontic appliance that is placed to hold the space until the permanent tooth comes in. Now what happens is the tooth BEHIND the missing tooth tips into space over time, crowding out the tooth that needs to erupt there. This causes a cascade of orthodontic problems, namely crowding of the permanent teeth. Sometimes, it even prevents the eruption of the secondary (permanent) tooth that is supposed to go in that space. This, in turn, causes the child to have orthodontic problems that have to be addressed with braces and make that treatment much more complicated and costly.
There are certain primary teeth that are retained until the child is anywhere between 10 and 13 years old. That is a long time to go without a space-maintaining tooth. It is critical that the primary teeth are cared for in the same manner that one would care for their permanent teeth, with regular brushing and flossing. Yes, you have to floss baby teeth, especially the back ones or any that contact each other in between the teeth. Primary molars (there are 8 of them), have very broad, long contacts in between the teeth. A cavity can be forming for some time before it is noticed in the mouth without x-rays. By then, it is often too late. But proper care, reducing sweets and acidic food/drink intake, and regular dental checkups can greatly decrease or eliminate the need to lose any teeth prematurely.