看似可愛的壞習慣其實會損壞牙齒?! Unmindful habits rot teeth?!

不少小朋友去到3歲以前都有吮手指的習慣，一直把手指放在嘴巴裡，看似很可愛，但如果超過4歲還是沒有改善，就會影響牙齒及牙床的發育，同時會造成舌頭位置不對，上頜變窄而導致上排牙齒不整齊。1

其次就是睡覺前喝奶，吸著奶瓶(奶粉，非母乳)入睡。其實蛀牙是一個長時間的變化，當我們進食時，口腔就會變成容易蛀牙的環境，維持得越久，久越容易蛀牙。而口水有保護牙齒的作用，不只會把食物殘渣洗掉，也會慢慢把口腔恢復成不易蛀牙的環境。可是睡覺時口水的分泌會下降，如果睡前有吃東西，口水因為變少而很難把口腔恢復回來，使得睡覺更容易蛀牙。2

再者就是喜歡使用薄荷清香味道等藥物牙膏。帶有薄荷清香味的牙膏很容易就會成為孩子的另類”糖果”。這種牙膏雖有預防牙疾的一定作用，但在殺滅一些細菌的同事，還會殺滅口腔中的正常細菌，不僅會給疾病治療帶來困難，會出現新的感染。另外，許多藥物牙膏中含有生物鹼和刺激性強的物質，長期使用，不僅可以損害口腔內的嬌嫩粘膜，還會因長期不斷的較強刺激，使牙齦、口腔、舌頭、口唇、咽喉等處發炎。3

預防方法：

1. 孩子半夜醒來盡量親餵，因為親餵會讓乳汁直接流到咽喉而不經過牙齒，比起瓶餵是比較不容易注意。

2. 建議家長最好能在寶寶9個月大時開始逐漸改用杯子餵奶，添加副食品並使用湯匙餵食，儘量利用玩具、娃娃、音樂等安撫寶寶的情緒，或學習周遭新奇的事物來轉移其焦點。

3. 在孩子刷牙時不要用過多牙膏，只要一粒豌豆大少量的即可。

4. 在孩子刷完牙后，盡量讓他把牙膏吐出來，即使是可以吞嚥的。

1 鄺懷德醫師(2007)，寶寶吸手指或奶嘴會影響牙齒的發育嗎。優活健康網。摘錄至: http://bit.ly/2iCUYd6

2 盧育成牙醫師(2017)，睡覺前喝奶真的可能會蛀牙(一)夜奶問題。摘錄至: http://bit.ly/2mSm0RY

3 小精靈兒童網站(2016)，孩子牙膏選不好後果很嚴重 你會選嗎。摘錄至: http://bit.ly/2AmYByk

Many children aged under 3 have the habit of finger sucking. It seems to be cute when children always suck fingers, but this habit will affect teeth and gums growth, cause skew tongue and irregular upper teeth because of narrow maxilla if children don’t change the habit when they are over 4 years old.

The second habit is drinking milk before sleeping and sucking a nursing bottle (milk powder, non-breastfeed) when sleeping. Tooth decay happens in a long time. When we have meals, oral cavity offers the environment where tooth decay easily happens. The buccal environment keeps in a longer time, then it is easier for tooth decay formed. Saliva can protect teeth. It can not only swill food residue, but also recover an environment where tooth decay doesn’t easily happen. However, the secretion of saliva will decline when children are sleeping. If children have food before sleeping, it will bedifficult to recover the environment in oral cavity because of the decline of saliva so that it’s easier for tooth decay happening when sleeping.

Furthermore, some children like using medicated toothpaste with a hint of fresh mint. Toothpaste with a hint of fresh mint can easily become another kind of ‘candy’. This toothpaste has certain effects on preventing dental diseases, but it will kill normal bacterium in oral cavity when it kills bacterium. It brings obstacles to treatment of diseases and causes new infections at the same time. Apart from that, many medicated toothpastes include alkaloids and irritants. If children use it for a long time, with chronic strong irritation, it will damage the delicate mucous membranes in oral cavity and irritate gums, oral cavity, tongue, lips, throat, etc.

Precautions:

1) It would be better to breastfeed children when they wake up at midnight because breastfeed make milk flow into throat and bypass teeth. Compared to bottle-feeding, breastfeed has little chance to cause tooth decay.

2) It suggests that it would be better for parents to gradually feed children on milk with cups when children are 9 months old. Parents can feed solid food to children with spoons. Parents pacify children with toys, dolls and music or change children’s focus by learning novel things nearby when feeding children.

3) Do not use too much toothpaste when children brush teeth. A pea-sized amount of toothpaste is enough.

4) Spit the toothpaste out after brushing teeth even if the toothpaste is deglutible.