Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

At Alta Loma Dental Care, we’ve long been dedicated to helping parents understand their children’s oral hygiene needs. Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that children under the age of one not be given juice, and while their concerns were partly due to nutrition, they were also responding to the phenomenon of Baby Bottle Tooth Decay.
In babies, tooth decay tends to follow a particular pattern. It is mostly the fronts of their front teeth that are affected. This is because when babies suck from bottles, sugary residue tends to accumulate on the front of their teeth and not get cleaned off for a long time. While the sugar content of a drink is a contributing factor to tooth decay, milk and formula can also pose a threat to tooth enamel if they are stuck to it for hours.
Avoiding high sugar content such as juice until babies are able to drink from cups is one way of preventing tooth decay, but the most important component is limiting babies’ access to feeding bottles. They also need to be supplied with water to help wash sugar off their teeth if it will be a while until they next get their teeth brushed.
Alta Loma Dental Care is at 7283 Carnelian St, Alta Loma, California, 91701. To schedule an appointment, call 909-987-6268 or visit AltaLomaDentalCare.com and fill out a contact sheet.