6 Tips for 6 Year Old Molars
By Dr Caroline Chung. Specialist Paediatric Dentist at About Smiles Kids Dental, Sydney North Shore.
‘See 6 Year Old Molars as a milestone, it’s time to let the kid take over oral hygiene duties.’
Turning six is a big deal for a lot of kids. Not only it is the time when they start Year 1, but it is at this age that they will also start to lose their baby teeth. The name 6 year old molars is coined to reflect the eruption of adult molars when your child is approximately 6 years of age. These teeth are their first molars, and they set the boundary that help all other adult teeth align in the mouth.
During this time, some children experience teething symptoms as they may have when they were babies – such as mild fever, swollen gums and mild diarrhoea.
Below are six tips I frequently share with parents.
How to prepare for permanent teeth
- Keep your child’s gums and teeth in tip top condition to allow the adult molar to erupt in a healthy environment and to reduce risk of infection.
- Check for food trapping in gums as this could be the source of their pain. This can be removed with dental floss.
- Provide children’s paracetamol and teething gels like Bonjela to help sooth the teething symptoms. Warm salty rinses will also work to reduce inflammation.
- Consider having space retainers where baby teeth have been removed so adult teeth can come up in the right place.
- Maintain six-monthly check ups with your dentist to track the order of erupting adult teeth sometimes teeth can be missing.
- Speak to your dentist if the adult teeth that are coming up behind baby teeth haven’t fallen out yet.