It’s National Children’s Dental Health Month.

Dr. Keith Van Beek with Jefferson Family Dentistry says the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends kids see the dentist for the first time by the time they are one-year-old.

“That is mostly just because they want you to get the child into the office to become familiar with the office. Sometimes if you wait until they’re a little bit older the first time they come into the dentist is a little scary. So when you start them out at a younger age they realize it’s not a scary place and it’s also a good educational opportunity for the parents on what to look for and how to take care of their kids’ teeth.”

One of the biggest issues for kids is developing cavities. Dr. Van Beek says when you eat sugary foods, there’s natural bacteria in your mouth that eats away at those kinds of foods.

“What happens when they do that is they produce acid. And it’s the acid from that process that eats away at the teeth and causes cavities. So the sugar itself with the bacteria in the mouth together create that environment that causes cavities.”

To help combat that, Dr. Van Beek recommends brushing teeth with toothpaste twice everyday, once in the morning after breakfast and once at night right before bed.