Bring Your Children to Our Kid’s Dentist in Cambridge

As a parent, you have a big role to play in keeping your child's teeth healthy and clean. You can help prevent cavities. Prevention starts at home, with good eating habits and daily cleaning of the teeth. On this page, Dr. J Michelson, kid’s dentist in Cambridge, offers important information on how to properly care for primary teeth.

Signs of Teething

Your child’s primary (or baby) teeth should appear around 4 to 7 months, as a general rule. It might be sooner or later. Drooling is a sign that your baby has begun the process of teething, which usually starts with the bottom front teeth. Your child also will begin to chew on everything from cloth to body parts to toys, etc.

Relieving Discomfort

A fever may appear, and your child will fuss more than usual when teething begins. While this is normal, you can take steps to relieve fussiness, such as offering cold teething toys, baby pain relief medicine that does not contain aspirin and over-the-counter remedies for teething pain. Our kids dentist in Cambridge, Dr. Michelsons Dentistry can provide advice on use of these gels.

Cleaning First Teeth

As soon as your baby’s first tooth appears, use a soft, damp baby washcloth twice each day to wipe the tooth and gums clean and continue to do so as more teeth appear. After your child turns 1, choose a soft baby toothbrush with a small smear of non-fluoride toothpaste, so it won’t cause harm if baby swallows it.

Avoid Sugary Drinks

Never allow your child to take to bed a bottle or sippy cup filled with anything other than water. The juice or milk can pool in the mouth, sitting on the tooth surface for hours and causing tooth decay. Stop bottle use at age 1 and avoid feeding anything other than water or milk between meals. Beware that flavoured milk products such as vanilla and chocolate milk, as well as juice, are sugary and should be avoided.

Call for an Appointment

When your little one turns 1, bring him or her to see us at Dr. Michelsons Dentistry! We’ll introduce your child to the fun of visiting the dentist (and our toy chest!). Call for an appointment; we can’t wait to meet your child.