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In honor of National Children's Dental Health Month, we wanted to talk about a really important topic to us. We often hear "but they're just baby teeth, do they really need to be fixed? Aren't they going to fall out anyways?" Although it is true that baby teeth do fall out and new adult teeth come in, not treating baby teeth can cause a lot more harm than we think!

What happens when we don't treat cavities in baby teeth?
- Cavities can grow really big and affect the nerve inside the tooth. When this happens, your child may start feeling discomfort and pain on that tooth. This pain affects children when they're eating and sometimes even at night when they're trying to sleep.
- After cavities start affecting the nerve of a tooth, the bacteria from the cavity may start causing an infection to form inside the bone underneath the tooth. You may see a pimple with pus on your child's gums next to the tooth with the cavity.
- If infections are left untreated, this can be really painful and potentially dangerous for your child. Infections can cause large swellings in the face and neck, and if the swellings are large enough, it can cause your child to have difficulty breathing. This becomes a really urgent emergency!
- Over time, if the infections stay in the bone around the tooth, this infection may affect the adult teeth that are developing underneath. The adult teeth may not develop normally - they sometimes become a different shape or a different color from what is normal.
- And lastly, not all baby teeth fall out at once! Most children do not lose their last baby tooth until they are 12 years old!

All of these things that can cause discomfort for your child are extremely preventable! When we treat baby teeth, we try to treat them as early as possible so that we take care of the cavities when they are still small. Our goal is to protect and save as many baby teeth as we can, because we want every child to have a beautiful and healthy smile!

A very common question we get from parents is: "Why are there so many gaps in between my child's teeth?" This question is usually followed by: "Does this mean my child needs braces?"

We've all been taught that straight teeth are what teeth are supposed to look like. But for baby teeth, those gaps or spaces are what we want! Baby teeth are very small in size in comparison to the adult teeth counterparts. By having gaps in between each baby teeth, the extra space allows for the larger adult tooth to erupt into its normal place.

Dentists describe spacing via the Baume classification system.

• Baume Type 1 means that there are gaps/spacing between the baby teeth, allowing room for the adult teeth to come in.
• Baume Type 2 means that the baby teeth are in contact or touching. There is a lack of extra space, meaning that the adult teeth may not have enough room to come in, leading to crowding and possible need for braces for the child in the future!

Once adult teeth erupt into place, they are usually in contact with one another, no gaps remaining. But not all gaps are bad! Some people have natural gaps in between their adult teeth and that's okay! Every smile is a beautiful smile!

What's more exciting than seeing your child grow their first baby tooth? When your child gets their first loose tooth! It is finally time for your child to get a visit from the tooth fairy. But you also notice that the new tooth is growing behind their baby tooth. Many parents come ask us - "is this something we need to worry about?" The great news is, this is extremely common! We call this "Shark Teeth." Shark teeth is when the new adult teeth grow in a row behind the existing baby teeth, creating two rows of teeth, similar to sharks!

Most of the time, we don't have to worry about shark teeth. Once the baby tooth falls out, the new adult tooth will drift into the space, even though it has grown in behind the other tooth. The normal movement and pressure from your child's tongue will also allow the tooth to be pushed into place - your child doesn't have to actively push on the tooth with their tongue!

When might we worry? If you notice that your child's new adult teeth have now grown taller than your child's baby teeth, and you also notice that the baby teeth are not loose, this is a great to talk to your child's dentist. Your dentist will be able to evaluate your child to determine if there is anything that needs to be done in order for your child's teeth to grow in properly.

When in doubt, never hesitate to ask your dentist! They are your experts on oral health and always want to make sure that you and your family are well taken care of.

As children start losing their baby teeth and their new adult teeth come in, a lot of parents ask, "why are their new teeth yellow?" and "is this something we should be worried about?" These are great questions! First off, this is definitely nothing to worry about! Adult teeth are naturally more yellow in color than baby teeth, and here are the reasons why:

• Every tooth is made up of layers: an outer 'white' layer (enamel), an inner 'yellow' layer (dentin), and the innermost layer containing blood vessels and nerves (pulp). Baby teeth and adult teeth look different based on the amount of thickness of the layers of enamel and dentin!
• Baby teeth have thin layers of dentin, meaning less of the 'yellow' layer. The enamel in baby teeth is also more opaque, making it harder to see the yellow layer through the white. All of this together makes baby teeth look super bright and white!
• Adult teeth have a thicker dentin layer, meaning more 'yellow.' The enamel is also semi-translucent, allowing the yellow color underneath to show through more easily. This allows adult teeth to be more yellow in color.

One last question you may have is: "can we do anything about the yellow teeth?"

• We don't recommend teeth whitening in office or at home whitening kits for young children. These products can make teeth extremely sensitive and uncomfortable for your child.
• Also, if your child has a mixture of baby teeth and adult teeth currently in the mouth, there are still more adult teeth to come in to replace those baby teeth. If you choose to whiten teeth at this time, the new set of adult teeth coming in will be a different color - you won't be able to specifically whiten the new teeth to match the old ones!
• Once a child has all of their adult teeth in their late teenage years, we can go over different safe methods of whitening their teeth to reduce the chances of sensitivity and to keep their teeth healthy.

So are yellow teeth bad? Not at all! We always want to emphasize the importance of strong and healthy teeth is by not having any cavities - not the color of the teeth. Having white teeth doesn't always mean a tooth is healthy!