I was on holiday in the Algarve with my family for a few days.<\/p>\n
The other day we bumped into a well-known couple, for reasons unknown (\ud83e\udd14?!?!), the conversation turned to their 4-year-old son's teeth\u2026<\/p>\n
The child is still only teething and already has several cavities! \ud83d\ude35<\/p>\n
I am gobsmacked how, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Three, this continues to happen\u2026<\/p>\n
But it's a fact. And much more common than people think!<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
As I was saying, it is still very common for us to receive very young children at the Clinic with various decayed teeth\u2026<\/p>\n
Nowadays, we can't say it's for lack of information... In our parents' or grandparents' time, yes, but not today...<\/p>\n
Nor is it for a lack of dentists, of which there are thousands\u2026 perhaps even too many, as the younger ones can't even find work to gain experience\u2026<\/p>\n
So why do so many children continue to suffer from this illness?\u2026<\/p>\n
I have three children, aged 12, 8, and 3. I'm very proud that none of them have had any cavities so far! \ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n
But they are subject to most of the \u201cstimuli\u201d 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... \ud83d\ude03<\/p>\n
\u201cEnvironmental stimuli\u201d 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...<\/p>\n
Those friends of ours insisted that their 4-year-old child brushed their teeth several times a day!<\/p>\n
If that's the case, how is the child's mouth full of cavities?<\/p>\n
For me, the answer is clear\u2026 doing something doesn't necessarily mean we'll do it well!<\/p>\n
I see this daily. Unsuspecting people who assure me they are cleaning their implants two or three times a day.<\/p>\n
I believe what you're telling me\u2026 but I can see the teeth aren't clean enough\u2026<\/p>\n
In other words, people clean, but sometimes, despite all their efforts, they can't be effective enough.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
When we are with our children or grandchildren, we can control what they eat.<\/p>\n
Often we are the ones who let them \u201csin\u201d and eat sweets... It's part of it... We adults \u201csin\u201d a lot too, don't we?...<\/p>\n
I don't worry about it much...<\/p>\n
I do care about you brushing your teeth!
\nMainly at night, when saliva production decreases and teeth are more unprotected\u2026<\/p>\n
This way, I ensure my children go to bed with their teeth nice and clean!<\/p>\n
How? By me washing their teeth!!! Especially the little ones\u2026<\/p>\n
This is what I advise everyone.<\/p>\n
Children don't know how and can't brush their teeth effectively... It's a fact...<\/p>\n
Don't entrust that responsibility to them... Take it on yourself and you'll see your children start to have better oral health...<\/p>\n
Consequently\u2026 fewer cavities\u2026 less pain and suffering\u2026 and fewer trips to the dentist\u2026<\/p>\n
Have you thought about the money you'll save?!?<\/p>\n
(Perhaps I shouldn't have written this text\u2026 it's going to harm the business\u2026 \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Estive uns dias de f\u00e9rias com a fam\u00edlia no Algarve. Num desses dias cruz\u00e1mo-nos com um casal conhecido, v\u00e1 l\u00e1 saber-se porqu\u00ea (\ud83e\udd14?!?!), a conversa foi parar aos dentes do seu filho de 4 anos\u2026 O mi\u00fado ainda s\u00f3 tem dentes de leite e j\u00e1 tem v\u00e1rias c\u00e1ries! \ud83d\ude35 Eu fico pasmado como \u00e9 que […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[81],"class_list":["post-2676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-odontopediatria-kids-care","tag-cariedentaria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drpedrocoelho.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}