Toddler Teeth: The Halloween Aftermath

My daughter had a dentist appointment yesterday. In retrospect, making dental appointments in the midst of a Halloween candy frenzy may not be ideal timing. However, I did learn that our dentist recommends doling out your child's Halloween candy piece by piece for a maximum of two weeks. "After that", she said, "it goes in the trash."

About.com Toddlers Guide Stephanie Brown has a great blog post about post-Halloween dental care for toddlers this week. She rounded up some fantastic links on baby teeth, managing the candy stash, and toddler serving sizes so you can help your toddler learn to make good choices about nutrition and tooth care.

Stephanie shared a link from About.com Dentistry Guide Shawn Watson on why baby teeth are important. I've heard a lot of people muse aloud about baby teeth, and why kids need to go to the dentist for teeth that will eventually fall out. Shawn explains that baby teeth can affect plenty of things in a child's life, including speech development. Those baby teeth are more important than they seem!