The first visit to the dentist

When should I first take my child to the dentist?

This is probably a question that many mothers have asked themselves at some point, because teeth are so important in many of our body's processes; for example, chewing and therefore digestion.

In this regard, it is a good idea to take your child to the dentist when their last molar has come through, i.e. at the age of about 3 or 4. The first visit serves to:

- Check that the milk teeth are healthy and ensure correct prevention of tooth decay.

- Discover any skeletal abnormalities in the mouth as early as possible.

- Discover and get rid of any bad habits as soon as possible, such as thumb-sucking, sticking their tongue between their teeth, nail-biting or eating sweets.

And what if their teeth take a long time to come through?

It is up to your child's doctor to check whether their first teeth come through within the normal time limits, which are pretty broad.

Your child should have cut their first two teeth by the time they are 12-14 months. They should have the first twenty, i.e. the full set of milk teeth, some time during their third year.

Any delay in relation these limits can either be put down to severe malnourishment, rather than a mild calcium or vitamin D deficiency, as is often wrongly believed, or to certain very rare congenital diseases. These hamper the development of the tissues that form the teeth, hair and lens of the eye.