This child\’s tooth only grows once in a lifetime and is not replaced. 90% of parents ignore it.

It seems that many parents are not worried about the health of their children\’s deciduous teeth. The reason is very simple: deciduous teeth are going to fall out anyway, and if they are broken, they will be broken. It is too late to take good care of them when the new permanent teeth grow in. PS: For questions about the care of deciduous teeth, please refer to our other article: Is it okay to leave the deciduous teeth alone if they are broken? These consequences are shocking, you know? Not all baby teeth are replaced by new ones: a child has four sixth-year teeth, which only grow once in a lifetime and are not replaced by permanent teeth. Unfortunately, many parents are unaware of its existence and even think that it can be replaced, so they neglect to take care of it, resulting in many children’s “sixth-year-old teeth” getting decayed early and causing a lot of unnecessary damage to their children’s dental health. . 1. What are sixth-instar teeth? When the child is 6 years old, parents can observe the rearmost position of the baby\’s dentition, the tooth that erupts behind the second (pre) molar, which is the first permanent molar. The tooth germ of the first permanent molar begins to form around 3 to 4 months old. It begins to calcify at birth. The crown calcification is completed around 2 to 3 years old. It erupts in the mouth at the age of 6 to 7 years old. There is one on the upper, lower and left sides, a total of four pellets. Because they erupt when a baby is around 6 years old, they are often called \”sixth age teeth.\” Parents must pay attention! Sixth-year-old teeth only grow once in a lifetime and are not replaced by permanent teeth. They are the teeth with the most important chewing function. After this tooth erupts, you must clean it and take good care of it. Once caries develops, it will not only affect chewing and eating, but also cause occlusion disorders, affect jaw development, and affect the child\’s facial appearance. The best way to protect yourself is to perform pit and fissure sealing promptly. The best time is between 6 and 8 years old. Schematic diagram of sixth-instar teeth 2. What is pit and fissure sealant? Pit and fissure sealing mainly targets sixth-year-old teeth and is an effective means to prevent caries on sixth-year-old teeth. There are often deep pits and fissures on the surface of the sixth-year-old teeth, which are pits and fissures on the chewing surfaces of the back molars. They are like millstones that can help children fully grind food. Schematic diagram of pits and fissures. Children\’s newly erupted \”sixth-year-old teeth\” are not very strong. The unworn biting surface is uneven and the pits and fissures are very deep. Food and bacteria can easily accumulate here, and it is difficult to brush and rinse with other methods. Clear. The food remaining here will ferment and produce acid under the decomposition of bacteria, causing the teeth to be corroded, softened, and decalcified, slowly forming dental caries. Many parents will take their children to see a dentist. The doctor will recommend: Apply a layer of resin material on the pit and fissure gaps on the surface of the sixth-year-old teeth, cover the pits and fissures, fill in the deeper pits and fissures on the occlusal surface, and make the food Residue and plaque are less likely to accumulate. It is like putting a protective coat on the teeth to prevent cariogenic bacteria and acidic metabolites from eroding the teeth, thereby achieving the purpose of preventing caries. This is what we call pit and fissure sealant. Is it necessary to perform pit and fissure sealing on teeth in the third and sixth years? The answer is: very necessary! Because the \”sixth-year-old teeth\” have the highest caries rate, the proportion of extractions and the incidence of other dental diseases are higher than those of other teeth. According to data from the National Oral Epidemiology Survey: 90% of 12-year-old children with dental caries have pit and fissure caries, almost all of which occur in the sixth-year-old teeth. According to data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on its official website, fissure sealing of children’s molars, is the simplest means to prevent dental caries: the protection rate after pit and fissure sealing can reach 80% in two years, and the protection rate in four years can reach 50%. Pit and fissure sealants have come a long way in the United States over the past decade. During this period, the number of children from low-income families receiving pit and fissure sealants increased by nearly 70%. But overall, the proportion of children from low-income families who receive pit and fissure closure is still 20% lower than that of children from high-income families. 4. How to perform pit and fissure sealing? Will it hurt? Pit and fissure sealing will not damage tooth tissue, does not require anesthesia, and is not painful! But it requires the cooperation of the child. Pit and fissure sealing is completed by cleaning the teeth, etching, rinsing and drying, applying sealant and curing (as shown in the picture). When the material solidifies and adheres closely to the groove wall, it will have a certain resistance to chewing pressure, so there is no obstacle to the child\’s eating. Moreover, the material is non-toxic after curing and will not cause harm to the human body. The sign of successful pit and fissure sealing is that the sealant can remain intact and can wear but not fall off. Therefore, parents need to check their children\’s teeth regularly and re-seal them if the material falls off. 5. When should pit and fissure sealing be done? The best time for pit and fissure sealing of sixth-year-old teeth is between 6 and 8 years old, when the teeth have fully erupted and have not yet suffered from caries. In addition to pit and fissure sealing for sixth-year-old teeth, the applicable ages for conventional pit and fissure sealing also include: 1. Primary molars between 3 and 4 years old; 2. First permanent molars between 6 and 7 years old; 3. Second permanent molars between 11 and 13 years old. Years old; 4, bicuspid teeth 9 to 13 years old. In addition, the following situations are also suitable for pit and fissure sealing: 1. Children whose deciduous teeth have a high incidence of pit and fissure caries, and teeth with deep pits and fissures after the permanent teeth erupt are recommended to undergo pit and fissure sealing as soon as possible. 2. If the tooth with the same name on the opposite side of the child\’s mouth suffers from pit and fissure caries, it is recommended that the tooth on the other side without pit and fissure caries undergo pit and fissure sealing as soon as possible. 6. To protect teeth, you must rely on good habits. Pit and fissure sealing is not a panacea. It only prevents the occurrence of caries in the sealed pits and fissures, but has no preventive effect on adjacent caries. Therefore, if you want to protect your children\’s teeth well, you must develop good dental care habits from an early age. 1. After eating, children should be given cold water to rinse their mouths. Those who cannot rinse their mouths should drink warm water to help eliminate food residues in the mouth. Especially after eating sweets, the mouth must be rinsed. 2. Do not eat before going to bed or while sleeping, and do not sleep with candies or chewed pastries in your mouth. 3. Increase the frequency of drinking warm water at ordinary times, or two sips. The purpose is to clean your teeth with water. 4. Educate children not to be picky about food or greedy for sweets. Don’t pay too much attention to “fine and soft” in staple food, have an appropriate mix of meat and vegetables, and have an appropriate amount of coarse and hard foods; don’t overdo it with snacks, and should mainly focus on various fruits, because these foods are rich in fluorine, phosphorus, calcium, vitamins and fiber , which is good for cleaning teeth and solidifying teeth. 5. Parents should check their children\’s dental development regularly. If they find abnormalities (such as black deposits on the tooth surface and pits and fissures), they should take their children to the dental department of the hospital for examination and treatment in a timely manner. 6. Cultivate your children’s good habit of brushing their teeth in the morning and evening as soon as they can brush their teeth, and stick to it.