Bottle-Feeding Can Cost Babies Their Teeth

World’s leading dentists and dental scientists recently expressed their concern about the effects of incorrect bottle-feeding on dental health of babies. They warn young parents that bad bottle-feeding practices may have increasing risks and cause damage of the baby’s teeth. According to the New Zealand Dental Association, increasing number of children is being brought to dental check-ups and diagnosed with tooth decay caused by bottle misuse. And the truth is, sometimes the damage is really serious, so in many cases dentists are forced to remove rotten teeth.
Dental specialists say that parents should be much more concerned and responsible for their actions when feeding the babies, and developing bad habits in these situations can cost a lot. David Crum from the New Zealand Dental Association comments on the situation as the following: “They put the child to bed with a sweet drink in the bottle. A lot of acid is produced and the teeth rot. Or they put honey on the teat of the bottle, I guess to make it taste sweet and to induce the child to bottle feed, which is bad. It really is bad for their teeth.”
Dental specialists pay attention of young parents on the fact that danger to their baby’s teeth while bottle-feeding comes from two sides. First of all, damage can be caused by using sweet milk or sweet baby food, which itself is very harmful to developing teeth of babies and toddlers. Second off, placing a bottle next to the baby for a long period of time can cause any sort of physical damage. Nina Vasan, a specialist from Kidz Teeth, explains: “It’s similar to a child which is thumb sucking. A dummy or teat that is placed in the mouth for long periods of time, three, four, five hours that can affect the way the jaws are growing, especially at night time”. As a result, not only teeth get rotten, but also certain damage of tooth layout can take place. Therefore, parents are asked to be more careful and more attentive, as well as not forget to check their babes’ teeth on a regular basis.