The importance of good oral health in baby teeth is very important. It is essential for the development of permanent adult teeth. If your child gets a tooth infection/cavity that is bad enough it can certainly affect the growth of the underlying adult tooth.
Why Baby Teeth Are Important
Besides helping your young one chew, speak, and smile, baby teeth are essential to oral health because they act as placeholders for the permanent teeth that will eventually come in.
When a baby tooth is lost the space it was holding can become an issue because the other adult teeth will have a tendency to drift into the space of the lost tooth. This can cause crowing and crookedness in the resulting teeth.
How Infections & Cavities Affect
Adult Tooth Development
The bacteria in a child’s mouth that causes cavities to form can grow into a much bigger problem especially if left untreated.
Bacteria can move from just a section of a tooth to the surrounding teeth and gum area below. An infection can then even form on the underlying permanent tooth coming in. The resulting infection which develops is called an abscess. This pus-filled infection can be very painful to your child so it should be avoided at all costs.
This infection among other similar types can also cause a delay in the eruption of the adult tooth or could even prevent it from erupting at all. Other problems it can cause are discoloration, malformations and permanent staining of the adult tooth.
Keeping Baby Teeth Healthy
Generally, there shouldn’t be any problems. As long as you are bringing your children routinely to the dentist and taking care of their teeth. Be sure to follow the basic rule of brushing at least twice a day and don’t forget to floss!
