Dental Care for Kids 101 – the Holistic, O2dontics Way

You might think that oral health isn’t something you have to think about much before your child’s teeth come in. But a mouth is more than just teeth, and many factors affect its growth and development. How it grows can ultimately affect the child’s breathing, sleeping, eating, speaking, and more.

As a mom or dad, though, you have the power to help create the right conditions for your child to grow the kind of mouth that supports their overall health and well-being.

Supporting Good Orofacial Development & Growth through Diet

One big factor in how the jaws and face grow is nursing.

When babies nurse, they’re getting more than just nutrition and immune support. The natural motions of suckling encourage the jaws and dental arches to develop fully and properly aligned, with plenty of room for the teeth to come in straight and true.

If a tongue tie or lip tie is limiting a child’s ability to nurse properly, some form of gentle release can be done to give them better range of motion. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a frenectomy – that is, the surgical clipping of the tie. Sometimes, a gentle laser procedure such as Oralase, which works on the fascia, can be enough to help the child along – no cutting involved.

As the child transitions to solid food, it’s important that you provide food that needs chewing – another force that stimulates jaw growth. The standard American diet isn’t it. The hyper-processed foods that dominate it are too soft – and one reason why narrow jaws and arches have become more common. Crooked, crowded teeth and impacted wisdom teeth have become more common, too, not to mention a higher risk of future TMJ disorders, sleep apnea, and other problems.

The Ideal Time for Your Child’s First Dental Visit

If any problems with orofacial development or function emerge, it’s best to address them as early as possible. This is one reason why Dr. T recommends that you bring your child in for their first dental exam by the time their first tooth erupts or by age one. It’s not only an opportunity for an initial assessment of their dental growth and oral function; it’s also a chance for you, as a parent, to get specific guidance to build the foundation for your child’s mouth/body health.

There’s a bonus benefit, too: Early visits help your child become familiar with what a dental office is like, making them less anxious about future visits and establish that seeing the dentist is a normal part of living a healthy life.

Of course, you can also monitor your child’s orofacial development at home. You just need to know what to look for. It’s a topic that comes up a lot in Dr. T’s practice, which is one reason why she devoted a whole episode of her podcast to it. Give it a listen now:

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