One of the milestones in your child's young life takes place when he or she begins to lose baby teeth, and another milestone quickly follows when your child's adult teeth slowly start to come in. This is likely a cause for celebration in your home, but it is also an opportunity to go over some points with your child—getting help from a pediatric dentist, if necessary—to prevent dental issues with these new teeth. Here are some topics that you'll definitely want to cover as soon as your child's adult teeth start to emerge.

Dental Care

You've likely talked to your child about taking good care of his or her teeth multiple times over the previous years, but the emergence of the child's adult teeth is a perfect opportunity to reiterate these points. The main point to get across is that now that the adult teeth are starting to come in, the stakes are higher. While a pediatric dentist might have left a cavity in a baby tooth alone because the tooth would soon fall out, this won't be the case once the adult teeth arrive. Give your child a refresher on brushing his or her teeth and flossing the correct way.

Dietary Choices

This can also be a good opportunity to reiterate the value of eating healthy. Talk to your child once his or her adult teeth start to come in about making dietary choices that will support these new teeth, rather than harm them. This means avoiding unnecessary sources of sugar, including soft drinks, cookies, and candy, as well as eating lots of vegetables and drinking milk to provide the body with the necessary vitamins and minerals to support strong, healthy teeth.

Tooth Protection

If your child plays a sport—and especially if it's a contact sport—taking care of the teeth is paramount. A child can have a baby tooth knocked out with little to no serious consequences; however, things would quickly change if your child were to sustain an injury to an adult tooth. Remind your child of the need to wear a properly fitting mouth guard during his or her athletic pursuits. You may want to make a point of buying a backup mouth guard so that your child never has an excuse not to wear one. If your child has trouble with any of these ideas, ask for some help from the dentist during the next checkup.