When Children Are Biters, What About Their Teeth?
Aren't children just perfect little angels… when they're sleeping? Growing up involves testing boundaries and learning which types of behaviours are acceptable and which are not. In many instances, children will grow out of bad behaviour, although this is of minimal comfort when you're going through a bout of particularly bad behaviour. What about when your child bites others? It's more common than you might think and is actually considered to be normal behaviour for children under the age of three. Sure, you'll do your utmost to discourage this activity and hopefully, it will only ever be a minor and temporary issue. But what about children who bite others a lot? When it's a regular and frequent occurrence, what about your children's teeth?
The Victim
Of course, you should be concerned about the other child (or indeed, adult) that your child has bitten. It's a bite, as opposed to a ferocious mauling, but the injury should be closely examined and dressed if needed (particularly if the skin has been broken). You might be angry with your child, but their physical well-being also needs to be taken into consideration.
Young, Developing Teeth
It's not as though the person your child has bitten will have passively just stood there and allowed it to happen. They would have reacted, recoiled, and even attempted to push your child away (particularly when the victim is another child). All of this has the potential to be traumatic to young, developing teeth. Your child might not even have their full set of teeth yet, and it's awful to think that they might already be damaged.
Dental Appointments
If your child is a biter, you might wish to take them to the dentist more often than just the regularly scheduled appointments. This should be the case with any type of trauma to the mouth, and when a bite is particularly hard, this can be classified as trauma. Your child's dentist will need to be sure that the behaviour isn't causing a misalignment of the teeth as they develop. Any serious damage will also need to be remedied, so don't be afraid to make an appointment with your dentist if you're at all concerned. While your child's first set of teeth are deciduous, it can still be detrimental if they're lost ahead of schedule.
In a perfect world, your child will only ever use their teeth to chew food, but this isn't always going to happen. Biting should only be a temporary behavioural trait. Hopefully, it won't damage their teeth. If it does, contact a dentist near you for further instructions.
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