If you are a proud parent of a newborn child, chances are, you're also ecstatic about seeing your little angel grow right before your eyes.
Of course, you have all of your dreams in place for your child, and you will do everything in your power to make sure they come true.
You'd like to put him in the best school and you'd like to give him the best clothes.
When he's old enough, you'd like to get him the best piano teacher or the best baseball team for him to develop his love for the sport.
All of these dreams are very natural to parents who simply love their children as they should.
However, sometimes, parents do forget the little things that are equally as important as those big dreams.
One of these things is proper oral care.
Yes, it is never too early to practice proper oral care for your child.
In fact, this is the best time for you to lay a strong foundation for his oral development.
Oral health is not only something you want to achieve because it gives you or your child good-looking teeth.
In fact, it affects many other things in any person's body.
You may have heard of news about a person developing an infection in his heart muscles because of a longstanding, untreated dental condition.
That might have been true.
Remember that in your mouth are blood vessels through which oral bacteria can find their way.
When these bacteria are circulated throughout the different body systems, they have the power to infect the different body organs and cause disease.
Besides, a perfect set of teeth is can be one of your best gifts to your child, so go ahead and work on it as early as you can.
For a toothless baby, oral health will, of course, not be about brushing teeth.
But one very important thing you should keep in mind is the great effect of what goes on in his mouth through the milk he drinks.
When it stays long in your baby's mouth, milk will undergo chemical changes that produce acids.
When these acids stay long enough in the mouth, they can damage the gums and cause certain disorders.
When your child already has teeth, these acids can also cause cavities.
What exactly can you do then to prevent milk wreaking havoc on your child's oral health? The things you can do are quite simple and basic.
First, you'd like to make sure your baby doesn't sleep with a bottle in his mouth.
When he's asleep, he can't suck in that milk, and that increases the amount of milk that can damage his gums and teeth, if any.
But because you definitely can't avoid having some amount of milk staying in your child's mouth, you can gently wipe his gums with a wet, soft and sterile cloth.
Of course, when the teeth start showing, you can start brushing them with with a soft and wet toothbrush daily, or you can carry on cleaning his teeth and gums with the wet cloth.
By about the age of three, your child will be ready to use toothpaste.
Go ahead and let him use some, but make sure he spits it out after brushing.
A good way to tell if your child is ready for toothpaste is when he's old enough to spit it out.
If not, then he'll have to continue on with only water on this toothbrush.