Often the decay is caused by giving a baby a bottle of milk, juice, or sweetened liquid and letting the liquid remain in the child s mouth for a long period of time, such as naptime or bedtime. Decay occurs when liquids with any sugar, such as milk or fruit juice, are given to the baby and left to sit on the baby s teeth for long periods of time. Bacteria in the mouth feed off of these sugars and produce acids. These acids proceed to attack the teeth. For about 20 minutes after a baby has ingested sweetened liquids, the acids are produced and attacking the teeth.
Tooth decay starts when the tooth enamel breaks down after many aced attacks.
In addition to what the infant drinks, tooth decay is aggravated by how often and for how long the liquid stays in the mouth. The more often and longer the sugar stays in the mouth, the more often and longer the acids are produced and attack the teeth. Baby teeth also act as placeholders for the adult teeth. If a baby tooth is lost too early, the other teeth may drift and invade the space where the adult tooth needs to come in. Without enough space to come in properly the adult teeth can become crooked or crowded.