Pediatric Information - In Your Local Palo Alto, CA Area

Space Maintainers Save Your Child's Smile

Space maintainers can save your child's smile. They are specially designed to protect space for your child's permanent teeth when baby teeth are prematurely lost because of injury or decay. If a tooth is lost too soon, your dentist may suggest a space maintainer to prevent future dental problems.

What's the Problem if Baby Teeth Come Out Too Soon?

The primary teeth or baby teeth play an important role in your child's developing mouth. They help in the normal development of the muscles and jawbones. Primary teeth serve as natural space maintainers, holding the space until the permanent teeth push them out. If baby teeth are lost too early, the other teeth can drift into the vacant space. This might cause teeth to come in crooked or unable to erupt into the gum, which leads to malocclusion, the improper positioning of the teeth and jaws. It also can cause a permanent tooth to appear prematurely, before what's best for a child's long-term dental health.

What Is a Space Maintainer?

It's a small device made of either plastic or metal and custom-fit to the child's mouth. It is a firmly fixed appliance, consisting of a band or temporary crown attached to a tooth on one side of the empty tooth socket. A wire loop or spring bridges the space to a tooth on the other side of the socket. Rarely, a dentist may make a removable space maintainer that is like a retainer or mouth guard.

How Does a Space Maintainer Help?

• Holds the empty space open, preventing movement of the other teeth, and gives the permanent tooth the needed time to take its natural position.
• May reduce or eliminate future orthodontic treatment.

What Dental Care Is Required?

Good oral hygiene is important. The space maintainer should be kept clean and teeth need to be brushed at least twice a day and flossed daily. Certain things must be avoided with a space maintainer in place -- no sticky sweets, chewing gum, or tugging on it with either fingers or the tongue.

Most children adjust within a few days to the new experience of a space maintainer. It can dramatically make a difference in a child's dental health and be worth any temporary discomfort or inconvenience.

by Brian J. Gray, DDS, MAGD, FICO

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.

Smart Snacking Helps Prevent Tooth Decay

Wouldn't it be great to know that you could enjoy candy, especially chocolate, without feeling guilty about the damage it could do to your teeth? Here is some information that will ease that guilt!

The bacteria that cause tooth decay must have food to create the acid necessary to break down your tooth's enamel. There are many factors that may contribute to tooth decay, but the length of time that food residues remain in contact with your teeth is probably the most important. What is the food made of and how often is it eaten?

Sugar is not so bad as we once thought because it can be cleared from the mouth by saliva very quickly. How fast foods clear from the mouth is an important consideration in snack selection. If food remains on a tooth for more than twenty minutes, the decay-causing bacteria can use the food to make enough acid to begin breakdown of the enamel. A little bit now and a little bit later, over and over again, will eventually result in a cavity.

Saliva plays a big part in removing food residues from teeth after you have eaten. Foods that are cleared completely from the mouth in less than twenty minutes are considered to be better snacks in terms of decay. Some foods are easily removed by saliva. White bread, raisins, apples, bananas, hot fudge sundaes, and chocolate ordinarily clear from teeth in one minute! Gummy bears and fruit roll ups clear within minutes. Like chewing gum, they stimulate the production of saliva too. A high flow of saliva helps to clear foods and keeps the oral environment less acidic.

Starches such as salted crackers, cookies, salted chips, and other foods that you may find stick to your teeth are foods to avoid unless you can brush soon after eating. Foods that remain on the tooth surface longer than twenty minutes should be avoided.

Look for sugarless gum sweetened with xylitol. Xylitol has been shown to reduce decay.

Juices should be saved for mealtime. If you read the side of a juice carton, you will find that it contains 100% sugar. Constant exposure of baby teeth to juices will cause decay. A piece of fruit would be a better choice.

The combination of acid and sugar in soft drinks will cause enamel breakdown. Read the label on a soft drink. You will find phosphoric acid and sugar. Lemon drinks and eating lemons often will cause enamel erosion (break down).

Combining fat and protein makes for a great snack for a child. Peanut butter is a good example of this combo. When the teeth are developing and erupting (coming in), foods high in calcium and phosphorus should be a big part of a child's diet. Cheese, milk, yogurt, broccoli with cheese, and fish are some foods high in calcium and phosphorus.

When the permanent teeth first erupt, the enamel is not completely calcified (hardened). The final phase of calcification occurs in the mouth. Milk, not juices and soft drinks, should be flowing over those brand new incisors (front teeth).

Now for the best news of all -- chocolate does not cause decay! The tannins in chocolate make the bacteria stick together instead of on the tooth surface. Chocolate is a source of magnesium and protein. A little plain chocolate will satisfy hunger longer and will clear from the teeth in less than a minute. Chocolate is a snack that both you and your teeth will love!

by Jane A. Soxman, DDS

+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.