By Sade Oguntola
As adults, we know the importance of good oral hygiene in keeping the teeth and gums healthy. One of the easiest and obvious ways to protect the teeth is to brush them at least twice a day. When brushing, care is also taken to choose the right toothpaste to use.
Certainly, all toothpastes may appear to have the same content and ingredients, but young children’s toothpaste differs from the regular toothpaste meant for adults. They have different ingredients or lower content of certain substances compared to regular toothpaste.
Both children’s and adult’s toothpaste are the same when it comes to the level of abrasiveness. Both are effective in brushing away plaque from the surfaces of the teeth. The only difference is the amount of fluoride, and most kid’s toothpaste comes in a variety of flavours probably to entice the kids to brush their teeth.
Chairman, Nigerian Dental Association, Oyo State branch, Dr Fechi Nkwocha says it is important to start brushing a baby’s teeth as soon as the first milk tooth breaks through using children’s toothpaste rather than the regular toothpaste two times a day to help to prevent and control tooth decay.
She spoke at the commemoration of 2023 World Oral Health day organised by Nigerian Dental Association, Oyo State branch, in partnership with Oyo state ministry of health at St Michael Catholic Primary School, Ibadan.
According to her, “The fluoride content in children’s toothpaste is specific for them. The amount of fluoride in it is such that even if they swallow it because they cannot spit out, it is not harmful to them. A dash of the paste is spread or used to smear the brush’s bristles to be used in cleaning their teeth.”
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that is extremely effective at helping to prevent holes or decay in children’s teeth. In fact, fluoride is so helpful at preventing tooth decay that the CDC named community water fluoridation, which is adding fluoride to community drinking water, one of the top 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.
However, as with most minerals, while fluoride is beneficial at low doses, ingesting too much fluoride can lead to harmful effects such as fluorosis, which causes changes in tooth enamel ranging from spots to stains to deep pitting depending on the severity.
She said to wash a baby’s teeth the moment it is seen should be with a soft bristle toothbrush and not cotton wool or foam material to ensure they get used to having something in their mouth to clean their mouth.
“We expect you to start to clean twice a day, morning and last thing before they sleep. Initially they may resist but they will get used to you putting something in their mouth to clean it as they are getting older.”
Dr Nkwocha said children’s oral health is important and so it is vital to introduce them to proper oral hygiene as early as possible and visiting the dentists before their first birthday to prevent their teeth from suffering dental problems such as tooth decay and tooth loss.
“Tooth decay and gum disease are the biggest problems that we encounter with children in the clinic and this occurs in about four out of 10 children in Nigeria and even in Oyo State, it could be higher. Untreated tooth decay in children causes pain, infection, sleep loss, problems with eating and speaking, and time off school.
“The most worrisome of this is that they have advanced tooth decay; a type of tooth decay that cannot be treated easily. Sometimes, you see a child with 20 teeth having up to eight of them decayed and at advanced stages. The standard is to ensure that our children have all their baby teeth until they change it to adult teeth.
“It is a lot of financial burden for their parents to bear at that time and the child is in pain and ends up missing school. Dealing with a child who is frequently out of school can be frustrating both for the parents, the caregiver, the doctor and the teachers as well.”
“Parents and caregivers must know that the child at the first birthday should see a dentist just to make sure that everything is okay. It may cost just N2, 000 or N3, 000 naira for the dental visit but to treat tooth decay will cost a minimum of N5, 000. If a child has eight decaying teeth, sometimes it may cost up to N50, 000 to treat those decaying teeth.
“At the dental visit, the child is taught how to clean their mouth with a brush and toothpaste. Children when they have learnt the proper brushing technique grow up with it into adulthood and old age using very good oral health care practices.”
While there isn’t a specific age or a hard deadline to switch, many children are ready to switch their children from children’s toothpaste to regular/adult toothpaste when a child is comfortable spitting all the toothpaste out and they are no longer swallowing toothpaste.
Ignore TV and internet ads with the large ribbon of toothpaste on the brush. The American Dental Association currently advises a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste for children from two to six years of age.
Also, a “smear” of fluoride toothpaste is for children younger than two years. As a result, it is important to closely monitor a child’s tooth brushing and to use no more than the recommended amounts of toothpaste for young children.
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