In addition to performing risk assessment and applying fluoride varnish to at-risk children, pediatricians can give parents messages about good oral health, including:
• Brushing or wiping teeth after eating.
• Limiting juices to no more than 4 ounces a day.
• Restricting sippy cup usage to mealtime if the cup contains anything but water.
• Avoiding bottles in bed that contain anything other than water.
• Considering weaning off the bottle around 1 year.
• Limiting snacks to less than four per day, and making sure they are healthy.
• Educating about an adequate source of fluoride to strengthen the teeth, including fluoridated water and toothpaste.
• Recommending parental brushing of the child’s teeth twice a day until he or she can adequately perform without supervision (at around 6-8 years of age).
Brochures on oral health are available in the AAP Bookstore or in the Bright Futures Toolbox.
Pediatricians have both the opportunity and the responsibility to incorporate oral health into their well-child health supervision visits. The advice families get from the pediatrician during the first years of life can prevent suffering in young children due to ECC.
The AAP Childrens Oral Health website can help with excellent information and the tools needed for pediatricians to get started.
Dr. Boulter is an adjunct professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H. She is a member of the executive committee of the AAP Section on Oral Health. Dr. Boulter was honored at the 2010 annual AAP meeting with the Oral Health Service Award. She said she had no relevant financial disclosures.