Douglas County Dental Clinic

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay, also known as Early Childhood Caries, results from children falling asleep with a pool of sugary liquid in their mouths. The sugar in milk or juice creates a breeding ground for bacteria, which damage their teeth.

This process may lead to severe decay which can cause life threatening abscesses and a multitude of other oral health problems.

Here are some steps that parents, grandparents, and other caregivers can take to prevent baby bottle tooth decay:

• DO NOT put children to bed with a bottle.
• DO NOT use a bottle of milk or juice as a pacifier during the day.
• Teach children to drink from a cup as soon as they are old enough to hold one. Most children can do this well before their first birthday.

Please contact the Douglas County Dental Clinic at 785-312-7770 if you have any questions or concerns about baby bottle tooth decay.

We've decided to start a blog after receiving a generous grant today from the Delta Dental of Kansas Foundation to use social media to promote good oral health habits! We're not quite sure what type of information the blog will contain, but we will certainly use it to meet our objective of promoting oral health awareness in Kansas!