HOW TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN’S TEETH HEALTHY

On this page we look at seven ways to keep your child’s mouth and teeth healthy, it is important to educate kids early so that the process is fun but encompasses proper cleaning practices and techniques.

Riverside Dental’s Seven Tips For How to keep your children’s teeth healthy

One, Start Tooth Care Early

From the moment the first tooth appears, get your infant used to the idea of a tooth care routine, both breast milk and formula contain sugars that cause tooth decay. It is therefore essential to introduce fluoride toothpaste which helps prevent tooth decay and strengthens teeth.

Riverside Dental, suggest finger brushes as the first step with your child, if you need help with selecting the right type of toothbrush after this then, then ask at reception or consult your dentist.

Two, Make Tooth Brushing With You Child Fun

Routine is important, but making it a regular, enjoyable, and rewarding experience, means it is then not a chore or boring, but part of the bedtime routine. So if your child likes to read a book or have a story read to them, make that part exciting, and it can come after they do a fantastic job with their teeth. – At Riverside Dental we suggest using a colourful egg timer to show your child how long they should be brushing, to correctly clean teeth and gums.

Three, Give Your Child Control Of The Brush

There is a range of appropriate and exciting toothbrushes in the market today – So let your child choose their brush, some will flash, some will speak, some use bright colours and their favourite characters to engage your child in brushing their teeth.

Four, Teach Them How – Technique Comes With Practice

Children and toddlers learn by watching and imitating adults, so when teaching your child to clean their teeth, show them how long to brush and the main brushing techniques, to reach all of those hard to reach places both at the back and the inside of the mouth, leave no space unbrushed. The best way to do this is to explain that your child can feel that they have cleaned every part of their mouth and focus on every last tooth. Mouthwash can be introduced to help keep plaque levels down too.

Five, Set An Egg Timer Or Get A Flashing Toothbrush

As we already mentioned a timer is the best way to ensure that they understand 30 seconds is not enough! Two full minutes and where possible, an egg timer will help demonstrate the time visually. Brushes that flash every minute are a helpful way to control brushing, one minute top and then one on the bottom. Ultimately continuing to monitor your child’s brushing times even into their teens is essential as it will help keep decay at bay – It should even avoid fillings.

Six, Floss Like A Boss, We Don’t Mean Dancing

Your children may know how to floss, but we are not talking about dancing, no! We are talking about using dental floss to help clean those difficult spaces between teeth that brushing cannot always reach. Flossing removes food and plaque in the spaces were teeth touch and can reduce bad breath.

Seven, Turn Their Teeth Blue & Not The Air

If your child thinks they know how to clean their teeth and that their mouth is clean, then try disclosing tablets to show them exactly where they missed. Riverside Dental can help you with this so just ask at reception or during your checkup. Disclosing tablets will reveal all of the areas that they need to concentrate, but it is still worth engaging in cleaning your child’s teeth even after 10, to ensure that they are reminded about the best brushing methods.

Summary – We recommend that you just try and keep things fun and underpin the importance of regular and prolonged brushing to keep your mouth healthy and teeth white. Avoid too many sugary treats and drinks, decay will develop and damage teeth.

We hope that you enjoyed this article and look forward to seeing you for your next checkup at Riverside Dental Norwich.

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