The COVID-19 pan­dem­ic has meant de­lays in den­tal care for many fam­i­lies. Chil­dren whose den­tal prob­lems might have been eas­i­ly tak­en care of in an of­fice set­ting may have had to wait to see a den­tist. And since teeth don't get bet­ter on their own, those prob­lems just get worse and need even more treat­ment.

Why good oral health is im­por­tant dur­ing Covid-19

Tooth de­cay in the form of cav­i­ties (al­so called caries) is the most com­mon dis­ease of child­hood. It is most­ly pre­ventable. But once tooth de­cay be­gins, it will get worse - even in ba­bies. Den­tists were not able to see pa­tients at the be­gin­ning of the pan­dem­ic ex­cept for emer­gen­cies. When they be­gan re-open­ing with new sched­ules, it may have be­come more dif­fi­cult to get an ap­point­ment. How­ev­er, if there is a con­cern, please seek the coun­sel of your fam­i­ly physi­cian, pae­di­a­tri­cian or den­tist.

Oral Health Chal­lenges for Chil­dren with Dis­abil­i­ties

- Chil­dren with phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ties, such as cere­bral pal­sy, may not have the mo­tor skills need­ed to use a tooth­brush safe­ly or to sit still in a den­tal chair dur­ing den­tal vis­its.

- Chil­dren with com­mu­ni­ca­tion dis­or­ders, such as de­layed speech and lan­guage de­vel­op­ment, may not be able to tell their par­ents that their mouth hurts or they have a toothache.

- Chil­dren who get fre­quent med­ical care, such as hav­ing many doc­tor vis­its or hos­pi­tal stays, may be afraid of the den­tal of­fice and may not co­op­er­ate dur­ing vis­its.

- Chil­dren who take med­i­cines with added sug­ars or those that cause dry mouth are at high risk for tooth de­cay. Sug­ar is added to some med­i­cines to make them taste bet­ter. Oth­er med­i­cines used to treat cere­bral pal­sy, seizures and de­pres­sion can cause dry mouth by low­er­ing the amount of sali­va in the mouth. Sali­va plays an im­por­tant role in pre­vent­ing tooth de­cay. Med­i­cines giv­en to chil­dren with med­ical dis­eases or dis­or­ders, such as asth­ma or al­ler­gies, can al­so cause dry mouth.

- Chil­dren on spe­cial di­ets may be at high risk for de­vel­op­ing tooth de­cay. Foods that are soft or high in starch (for ex­am­ple, pota­toes or corn) stick to chil­dren’s teeth and give caries-caus­ing bac­te­ria in the mouth more time to cause tooth de­cay.

The chal­lenge of “Den­tal Dread” - It’s treat­able!

If an up­com­ing den­tist vis­it makes you ner­vous, you are not alone. For one in 10 peo­ple, the fear is so in­tense that they avoid go­ing, ac­cord­ing to re­search. “That re­al­ly back­fires, be­cause peo­ple put it off for so long that they end up need­ing all sorts of painful pro­ce­dures,” says Mark Wolff, DDS, New York Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege of Den­tistry. Be­lieve it or not, see­ing a ther­a­pist can help: A 2018 study pub­lished in the British Den­tal Jour­nal found that 79% of se­vere­ly anx­ious pa­tients who at­tend­ed an av­er­age of five ses­sions with a ther­a­pist were able to un­der­go den­tal treat­ment with­out se­da­tion.

An­oth­er op­tion? Bring ear­phones. Lis­ten­ing to your own sooth­ing mu­sic will help you re­lax, says Dr Wolff. And make sure you in­form your den­tist you are ner­vous so he/she can work with you. “If they are not sym­pa­thet­ic,” says Dr Wolff, “you need to find an­oth­er den­tist.”

Know what foods can harm your teeth

Mashed pota­toes: Foods filled with starch stick to your teeth. Pota­to chips, which tend to get trapped in your teeth, aren't great ei­ther. Try to floss af­ter you eat to re­move food par­ti­cles.

Dried fruit: It’s sticky and high in sug­ar, which trans­lates to cav­i­ties. The best op­tion: raisins, be­cause they sup­press the growth of some mouth bac­te­ria, says re­search.

Ice: Chew­ing on hard sub­stances can dam­age enam­el, per the Amer­i­can Den­tal As­so­ci­a­tion. For the sake of your teeth, cool off with a tall glass of luke­warm wa­ter in­stead.

Di­et so­da: It's just as hard on your teeth as reg­u­lar so­da, ac­cord­ing to a 2018 British Den­tal Jour­nal. These drinks of­ten con­tain phos­phor­ic and cit­ric acids, which can strip away enam­el.

Tak­ing a lit­tle time at home to prac­tice good den­tal habits is a great way to pro­tect your child's teeth dur­ing the pan­dem­ic and every day.

How to help pre­vent den­tal prob­lems dur­ing the pan­dem­ic:

1. Brush teeth reg­u­lar­ly. Help your chil­dren brush their teeth two times a day for two min­utes each time. Use tooth­paste with flu­o­ride.

2. Avoid sug­ary foods and junk food. Di­et af­fects den­tal health. The longer and more fre­quent­ly your child's teeth are ex­posed to sug­ar ​and oth­er foods that stick in the teeth (like chips, cook­ies, and crack­ers), the greater the risk of cav­i­ties.

3. Den­tal check­ups. Sit­u­a­tions may vary from den­tist to den­tist but guide­lines from CDC help en­sure pa­tients and den­tal team mem­bers stay safe. Con­tact your den­tist to be up­dat­ed on their new pro­ce­dures for see­ing pa­tients be­fore sched­ul­ing a vis­it.