I was on holiday in the Algarve with my family for a few days.
The other day we bumped into a well-known couple, for reasons unknown (🤔?!?!), the conversation turned to their 4-year-old son's teeth…
The child is still only teething and already has several cavities! 😵
I am gobsmacked how, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Three, this continues to happen…
But it's a fact. And much more common than people think!
I don't personally treat children, not because I don't like them or don't think it's important (which I do very much!), but because I am dedicated to other areas and I have colleagues in my team dedicated to Paediatric Dentistry with a huge passion for children, whom they treat almost as if they were their own.
As I was saying, it is still very common for us to receive very young children at the Clinic with various decayed teeth…
Nowadays, we can't say it's for lack of information... In our parents' or grandparents' time, yes, but not today...
Nor is it for a lack of dentists, of which there are thousands… perhaps even too many, as the younger ones can't even find work to gain experience…
So why do so many children continue to suffer from this illness?…
I have three children, aged 12, 8, and 3. I'm very proud that none of them have had any cavities so far! 💪
But they are subject to most of the “stimuli” that other children are... Yes, because tooth decay is a disease that depends on environmental factors! And no, I'm not talking about the climate... 😃
“Environmental stimuli” are today's diet, the sugars present in almost everything, sweets, fizzy drinks, ice cream (my children have practically one ice cream a day during the holidays...), processed foods, etc... As well as brushing teeth, or rather, the lack of it...
Those friends of ours insisted that their 4-year-old child brushed their teeth several times a day!
If that's the case, how is the child's mouth full of cavities?
For me, the answer is clear… doing something doesn't necessarily mean we'll do it well!
I see this daily. Unsuspecting people who assure me they are cleaning their implants two or three times a day.
I believe what you're telling me… but I can see the teeth aren't clean enough…
In other words, people clean, but sometimes, despite all their efforts, they can't be effective enough.
And we're talking about adults... now imagine a 4-year-old child... who doesn't yet have the manual dexterity to write... how will they manage to brush their teeth effectively on their own?
When we are with our children or grandchildren, we can control what they eat.
Often we are the ones who let them “sin” and eat sweets... It's part of it... We adults “sin” a lot too, don't we?...
I don't worry about it much...
I do care about you brushing your teeth!
Mainly at night, when saliva production decreases and teeth are more unprotected…
This way, I ensure my children go to bed with their teeth nice and clean!
How? By me washing their teeth!!! Especially the little ones…
This is what I advise everyone.
Children don't know how and can't brush their teeth effectively... It's a fact...
Don't entrust that responsibility to them... Take it on yourself and you'll see your children start to have better oral health...
Consequently… fewer cavities… less pain and suffering… and fewer trips to the dentist…
Have you thought about the money you'll save?!?
(Perhaps I shouldn't have written this text… it's going to harm the business… 😂😂😂)
