To Parents:

Dental care should be started early. Habits formed in the early years are likely to be continued into adulthood. The rules are fairly simple -- visit your dentist as often as he or she suggestes, clean teeth properly, choose food wisely, and get an adequate supply of flouride.

Why is visiting the dentist so importan for young children? How do you teach your child to brush his teeth? What is a wide food selection? Why is flouride important? This booklet will give you some answers. It is dedicated to you and your wish to provide the best possible dental care for your child.

YOUR CHILD"S TEETH

We have two sets of teeth during our lifetime. The teeth making up the first set are called "baby" or primary teeth. The technical name for them is deciduous teeth, because they grow, mature, and come out like the leaves of decidous trees. However, unlike the shedding of the leaves in the fall, the 20 teeth are lost over a period of six or seven years.

The second set of teeth are permananent, There are 32 in a complete set. A first essential for a lifetime of good permanent teeth is to keep the deciduous teeth in a healthy condition.

With what we know today about dental care, your child can usually keep his permanent teeth for lifetime. But good dental health practices are necessary from infancy throughout life. They are vitally important during preschool years.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR CHILD'S TEETH

All 20 deciduous and the first permanent teeth are developing in your child's jaw at birth. The process of development begins during the prenatal period and continues the first 12 years fo your child's life. These years are of great importance in the development of his teeth.

Your child's lower front teeth usually appear when he is about six months old. After the two lower front teeth come in, the upper front teeth appear, followed by the lower and upper back teeth, the cuspids or yet teeth, and the "second year" or dedicuous molar teeth. These teeth come in earlier in some children and later in others.

Once the tteth erupt, do not let your child have access during the day or be put to bed at night witha bottle. The constant exposure of teeth to natural or added sugar in the bottle's contents results in decay called "nursing bottle syndrome."

At about age six, the first permanent molars ("six-year molars") appear. Because they come in back of the deciduous teeth, parents sometimes mistake them for deciduous teeth. They are permanent and should last a lifetime. The first permanent molars serve as chewing surfaces while the deciduous teeth are being replaced by other permanent teeth. The molars also help to shape the lower part of the face. Their position and health influence the postion of other teeth.

TWENTY PRIMARY TEETH AND DATES OF ERUPTION

IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS OF THE PRIMARY TEETH

The deciduous teeth serve four important functions. First, they are necessary for chewing foods thoroughly. Second, they affect your child's appearance. Third, a full set of sound, properly spaced, deciduous teeth holds space for the permanent teeth forming underneath them. This can influence the general health of your child for the rest of his or her life. Fourth, the primary teeth help your child to speak clearly.