Infant Oral Medicine

The notion that the status of the oral cavity correlates well with the overall general health of a child is accepted now more than before. However, too few dental practitioners see children at a young enough age to intervene effectively before disease takes its toll on the dentition as well as on the child’s physical and emotional well being. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry states that a child should been seen by the first birthday.

Regular visits by a mother with her newborn for routine well baby care to the pediatricians office provide the earliest occasion for identification of some of the oral manifestations of nutritional deficiencies, developmental defects or inadequate infant oral hygiene. They can also be an early opportunity to look closely and catch early disease of newly erupted teeth; provide the infant oral health messages we’re describing here and refer the infant and parent to the pediatric dentist.

Early childhood caries (ECC), the presence of tooth destruction from dental caries soon after teeth erupt, can have devastating effects on a child. It is believed to occur in about 5% of all children, and is particularly common in lower socioeconomic and immigrant populations. While totally preventable by utilizing sensible nutritional practices and daily oral hygiene measures, rapid breakdown of the teeth accompanied by acute and chronic oral infection can occur in a matter of a few months when certain conditions exist. The young child with ECC may sometimes exhibit symptoms similar to a diagnosis of "failure to thrive."

Most children who suffer from ECC, fortunately, show remarkable recovery toward the norm after oral rehabilitation. The physical and emotional indicators improve greatly, and most children return to normality as far as growth, maturity and personality are concerned.

To date, we as a profession have not been successful in making early parental intervention and awareness a priority. To make a difference, we must devise new and effective strategies to educate expectant and new parents as to the proper nutritional and preventive practices for their newborn child. Prenatal and perinatal health professionals see pregnant women and new mothers frequently. They are ideally positioned to promote oral health practices that will result in fewer emergent problems, reduced dental caries and better overall health. It is too late once the disease progresses to be visible. Parents must be made aware early in the process, that serious childhood dental disease can be avoided with little effort on their part. The outcome will be improved quality of life for their child for years to come, as health of a child’s primary teeth have a direct effect on their permanent teeth.

A major goal of this program is to position oral health as an integral component of general health. This presentation is an attempt to reach those providers that work with families of young children to help us reach our goal of a cavity-free generation.