A lot of times, when we think about a dentist, we think about teeth and gum issues and not much else. But pediatric dentists actually do way more, especially during your child’s early development years.
Pediatric dentists are also trained to spot and help with potential speech and feeding problems before they turn into bigger problems down the road.
There’s a reason the American Dental Association recommends scheduling that first dental visit after your child’s first tooth comes in or by their first birthday.
Your child’s mouth and teeth are directly connected to their ability to speak and eat, and those early developmental years are absolutely crucial. During this time, your child is still learning and mastering all kinds of complex oral functions.
From the start, your baby’s mouth is doing some amazing things. They’re learning to latch, suck, swallow, and later transition to solid foods. Then comes babbling, forming first words, and eventually clear speech patterns.
All of these milestones rely on the tongue, lips, jaw, and teeth working together. If something’s off with any of these structures, it can throw the whole system out of sync.
Common Speech and Feeding Challenges in Young Children
We see quite a few feeding and speech challenges in our practice, including the following.
- Trouble latching or staying latched while breastfeeding. This can be incredibly frustrating for new moms who are already dealing with the stress of learning to breastfeed. Sometimes it’s not about technique or milk supply at all. There might be a physical issue in the baby’s mouth that’s making it difficult for them to maintain a proper latch.
- Gassy and fussy behavior after meals. This can happen when your baby swallows too much air during feeding, which is often linked to poor latching. It’s uncomfortable for the baby and stressful for parents.
- Colic, reflux, and picky eating. These issues can have multiple causes, but sometimes they’re tied to oral function problems we can actually help with. For instance, if a toddler has trouble moving food around in their mouth due to a tongue-tie, they might become extremely picky about textures.
- Delayed speech or difficulty forming certain sounds. Some kids struggle with sounds like th, z, and r, and there’s often a physical reason those sounds are hard. These speech challenges don’t always go away on their own, and the longer they stick around, the more ingrained those patterns become.
Read more: Why Proper Latching Matters for Breast and Bottle Feeding
What a Pediatric Dentist Looks For
During our evaluations, we’re looking at the big picture of how your child’s mouth is developing. Here are some of the key areas we examine:
- Tongue-ties. Not all pediatric dentists are trained to evaluate tongue ties, but some, like us, are. One of the first things we check for is whether your child has a tongue-tie, which happens when the tissue connecting the tongue to the floor of the mouth is too tight or poorly positioned. This can significantly affect both feeding and speech.
- Mouth and jaw development. Your local pediatric dentist can look closely at how your child’s jaw and oral structures are developing. Are the arches forming properly? Is there enough room for the tongue to rest and move as it should? We can catch early signs of orthodontic issues that may later affect speech clarity or feeding ability.
- Bite alignment and jaw positioning. How the upper and lower teeth come together, and how the jaw is positioned, can directly affect speech. Even in very young kids, we can often identify patterns that may lead to bite issues down the road, ones that could affect how certain sounds are made.
- Signs of airway or breathing issues. We also look for signs of airway restrictions or breathing problems. If a child is mostly breathing through their mouth instead of their nose, it can shift how the tongue rests and even how the jaw grows. Over time, this can lead to problems with feeding, speech, and overall oral function. We check for things like enlarged tonsils, a narrow palate, or jaw misalignment that may be affecting their airway.
How Your Pediatric Dentist Can Help
There are several ways we can help your child.
- Thorough evaluations that go beyond teeth. We perform specialized screenings that look at the whole picture of how your child’s oral structures are functioning and developing to help prevent issues before they start.
- Collaborating with other specialists. One of the most valuable parts of our job is working closely with speech therapists, lactation consultants, and other specialists when needed. This team approach means your child gets comprehensive care that addresses all aspects of their development, not just the dental piece.
- Performing frenectomies and guiding post-operative care. When we do identify issues like tongue-ties that are impacting feeding or speech, we can perform frenectomies to release those restrictions. But the procedure itself is just the beginning, we also guide parents through the important post-operative care, including stretching exercises that are super important to keep the tissue from reattaching. These stretches help your child learn to use their new range of motion, and we make sure parents feel confident doing them at home.
Read more: Why Stretching is Necessary After a Baby’s Frenectomy
Your child’s oral health and development affect so much more than just their teeth. Those early years are when we have the best opportunity to identify and address issues that could impact feeding, speech, and overall development.
We really encourage parents to stick to those recommended dental visits, starting early. Even if your child doesn’t have any obvious issues, these early evaluations can catch subtle problems before they turn into something more serious.
If you’ve noticed any feeding difficulties, speech delays, or you want to know how your child’s oral development is progressing, don’t hesitate to give us a call.
We’re here to support not just your child’s dental health, but their overall development and well-being. Our local pediatric dental specialists are proud to be part of your support team from the very beginning.