Your Child’s First Visit

According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), a child should visit the dentist by age 1, or within 6 months of the eruption of their first tooth. Whichever comes first. Prevention has to start early by assessing the child's risk, as well as educating parents on how to take care of baby teeth. If your child has teeth, it's time!

Ideally, you should take your child to see the dentist every 6 months. Frequent visits are essential to the health of your child's developing teeth, and these visits allow your child's dentist to detect early signs of dental disease and decay. You may take excellent care of your child's teeth at home, but still have problems for which you can’t see symptoms. A dentist can catch these problems early, and treat the issue before it becomes a larger problem.

Many baby teeth can stay in kids' mouths until they’re as old as 12 years, as baby teeth are the placeholders for the permanent teeth. Lose them early, and you could be looking at delayed eruption and migration of permanent teeth. This means permanent teeth have a higher chance of popping up in the wrong place, and are more costly to treat down the road with orthodontics. 
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When there is decay in the mouth, bacteria is present in high numbers. As the permanent teeth erupt, they are bombarded by that bacteria, and quickly become decayed. Children with severe cavities have pain that prevents them from eating well, focusing in school, sleeping well at night, etc. Treating cavities in baby teeth will lower the risk of getting cavities in permanent teeth. In fact, the #1 risk factor for cavities is previous decay.