Baby bottle mouth is the decay of a baby’s front teeth. Baby bottle mouth usually affects the top row, but bottom teeth can be impacted as well.
Baby bottle mouth happens when sugars from liquids in the bottle stay in Baby’s mouth behind their front teeth long enough for the sugars in those liquids to be converted into acid by the natural bacteria in their mouth. This acid then eats away at the fine layer of enamel on their new teeth and forms cavities. It can be hard to spot because it often starts on the backs of Baby’s teeth, and it’s only visible once it has advanced to the front.
Luckily, it’s also very easy to prevent.
Sweet dreams
The first and best way to avoid baby bottle mouth is to avoid putting Baby to bed with a bottle. When they are sleeping, their mouth doesn’t make as much saliva as it does during the day, so if they fall asleep with a bottle, the sugars from whatever they are drinking will stay in their mouth for much longer than they normally would. Juice, milk, formula and even breast milk contain these sugars, so it’s best to avoid bringing the bottle to bed.
All day long
Nighttime isn’t the only time when sugars find their way into Baby’s mouth, though! It’s best to not let them have a bottle in the place of a pacifier, and to not dip pacifiers in any kind of sugary substance. The shape of bottles and sippy cups allows sugar to get trapped behind Baby’s front teeth. One way to avoid this is to introduce them to real cups instead of sippies when you think they are ready to move on to a more sophisticated drinking utensil. They might take a little longer to master an uncovered child’s cup than they would with a sippy cup, but they will have to learn it eventually, so why not start early and protect their teeth at the same time?
Squeaky clean
Finally, it’s important to start cleaning Baby’s teeth as soon as they have them. New guidelines from both the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommend starting babies on fluoride toothpaste as soon as their new teeth start to erupt, but the amount of toothpaste shouldn’t exceed more than a smear the size of a grain of rice. Excess toothpaste can be wiped out of Baby’s mouth when they are too young to spit on their own, but the ADA says that rinsing can take away from the benefits of fluoride. On the other hand though, more than the recommended rice-grain-sized smear of toothpaste could put Baby’s new teeth at risk of a chalky white discoloration. The ADA suggests brushing babies’ teeth twice a day. Continue to clean their gums the way you have been, until more teeth come in.
With a few precautions, there’s no reason for baby bottle mouth to be any part of your or Baby’s lives, so as those new teeth come in, try not to worry too much, and just enjoy their brand-new smile.
