Ten years, five moments
Decay almost never starts at a check-up. It starts in the gaps between them, and the gaps are predictable.
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0
Age 0
First tooth
Usually around six months. The first check-up should happen by the first birthday, not when something hurts.
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1
Age 1
First check-up
A visit with nothing wrong. It costs a slot and buys a child who is not frightened of the room.
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3
Age 3
Brushing on their own
They want to do it themselves and they cannot do it well yet. This is where most decay quietly starts.
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6
Age 6
Adult molars arrive
At the very back, before any milk tooth falls out. Most parents never notice them, and they are the tooth most often lost to decay.
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10
Age 10
Ten years, no decay
Not luck. The result of five small decisions made on time, none of which felt urgent at the time.
Why the first ten years decide it
Milk teeth hold the space
Milk teeth hold the space
A milk tooth lost early lets the teeth beside it drift into the gap. The adult tooth underneath then has nowhere to come up. A lot of braces later are the result of a decision made at four.
Tap to go backThe first molars arrive at six and stay for life
The first molars arrive at six and stay for life
They come up at the back, before any milk tooth falls out, so most parents never notice them arriving. They are permanent, and they are the most common tooth to be lost to decay.
Tap to go backA child who is frightened at five avoids dentists at twenty-five
A child who is frightened at five avoids dentists at twenty-five
The first bad visit is the one that lasts. Preventing decay in these years is partly about teeth and mostly about making sure the chair never becomes something to dread.
Tap to go backWhat the programme actually does
This is not a leaflet. It is the work the clinic does outside the clinic, because a cavity-free decade is decided at home and at school, not in the chair.
School visits and camps
Screening and teaching, in the places where children already are. A dentist who has met a class is no longer a stranger in a mask.
The podcast and the blog
The questions parents actually ask, answered at length rather than squeezed into a two-minute appointment.
BNI and Rotary
Community work that puts screening in front of families who would not otherwise book a first visit.
Parent teaching at every visit
Forty-minute appointments exist partly so there is time to show you how, not just tell you to.
Start before the first birthday
There is nothing to sign up for. Book a first visit by the time your child turns one, keep the six-month appointments, and do the small things we show you at each one.
That is the whole programme. The hard part is only the first appointment.