The importance of early childhood oral health

Early Childhood Caries adversely impacts development and learning and can affect what a child eats, how they speak, their ability to learn and ultimately how they feel about themselves. Such an impact can result in poor overall health and well-being. A child cannot be truly healthy if he or she has poor oral health.

Dental caries is an infectious disease that results from an interaction between the oral bacteria and dietary carbohydrates on the tooth surface Clearly prevention of tooth decay in infants begins prenatally with the mother and continues with the mother and child after birth Both the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that infants receive oral health risk assessments from their primary health care provider in their first year of life in order to assess their risk for developing tooth decay providing oral health education and evaluating and optimizing fluoride exposure.