A dentist has shared advice all parents should know bout kids and oral health.
As parents, we want to make sure we are teaching our children good dental habits, and how to take care of their teeth from an early age.
Limiting sugar, brushing properly and even learning to use dental floss matters. But if we are doing all this, why do some kids still get cavities? Even when we are being diligent about regular dentist visits too?
Well, it seems we might be overlooking something which a functional dentist now has revealed can have a major effect on children’s oral health.
Dentist on the problem with mouth breathing
In a post to Instagram, US-based dentist Kathleen Schuster, reveals that if your child keep getting cavities, make sure you check to see if they are breathing through their mouth most of the time – including when they sleep – rather than through their nose.
As this, she explains, can have a major impact on bacteria-growth in your mouth, and it’s something she sees again and again in her work.
Captioning her post, Schuster writes:
‘Every parent has been told the same story. Sugar causes cavities. Cut the sugar, save the teeth.’
However, the story might not be as straight forward, the dentist reveals.
‘I see it every day in my office. A parent does everything right, hands me the food log, kid barely eats sweets, and somehow the kid still has cavities.’
She goes on to explain further.
‘And every single time, when I look closer, the kid is mouth breathing.’
She adds:
‘Cavities aren’t really about sugar. They’re about bacteria. And bacteria thrives in a dry mouth. When a kid sleeps with their mouth open, saliva can’t do its job protecting the teeth. So the bacteria runs wild, all night, every night.’
Schuster says she saw the same problem in her own children too.
‘My mom was a hygienist. We brushed and flossed like our life depended on it. The second they started mouth breathing, both of them. Heidi got a full blown cavity. Slade, I caught early enough to remineralize.’
And this is what caused the cavities, the dentist reveals.
‘Not because of sugar. Because of bacteria thriving in a dry mouth.’
How to fix mouth breathing
The dentist also had some advice to parents on how to fix mouth breathing in kids.
‘Long term, tongue strength and mouth exercises help fix the mouth breathing itself.’
This isn’t the first dentist to warn parents about mouth breathing either.
Not only can it contribute to tooth decay but it is also linked to issues with tooth alignment, sleep quality and jaw development.
Speaking about why mouth breathing is considered a dental red flag, paediatric dentist Dr Vaibhav Jagad says:
‘It’s about early awareness. The earlier airway concerns are identified, the more we can support healthy growth while everything is still developing.’
