Like many parents, you may be concerned about the state of your children's teeth. With the increased consumption of processed, sugary foods, it's no wonder that many children get cavities at young ages. Fortunately, there are a few simple steps that you can take to ensure your child's teeth stay healthy and cavity-free.
Encourage Your Child To Drink Water
Soft drinks and fruit drinks are the most appealing beverages of choice for young children, but they wreak havoc on teeth. When these drinks leave a sugary residue in the mouth, they start to cause tooth decay. The obvious choice would be to not let your child drink these sugary drinks at all and to only drink water, but this is not always possible. However, try to limit the amount of sweet drinks your child consumes, and encourage your child to drink some water after drinking sweet drinks to rinse the mouth. For babies who drink bottles of milk, discourage the baby from drinking milk while falling asleep, as this causes the milk to pool in the babies mouth which contributes to tooth decay.
Making Brushing Time Fun
For many parents, brushing their child's teeth can seem like a boring chore. Make it fun for both your child and yourself. Find an appropriate song to play while brushing teeth. Download an app to your phone that times how long you should brush your teeth for. Challenge your child to foam up the toothpaste as much as possible while brushing their teeth. Use a reward chart for the whole family to record every time someone brushes their teeth. Using these strategies can help relax tooth-brushing time, and it will reinforce to your child that looking after their teeth is extremely important.
Take Regular Trips To The Family Dentist
Your family dentist should play an important and regular role in your family's life. Adults should see the dentist at least twice a year, so schedule your children to have an appointment at the same time. Children should start to see the dentist after their first teeth arrive; usually the dentist will just spend a few minutes checking their teeth are developing properly, and the visit will be over. These initial dental appointments are important for the child to feel comfortable with visiting the family dentist and to begin their lifelong journey of proper dental care. Your family dentist will also be able to provide you with answers to any questions you have about looking after your children's teeth.
Share4 April 2016
When I had my first child, I was a nervous wreck. Every book I read gave different advice, and I just wanted to be right! By the time I had my third child, some of the stress had abated. I now realised, there were tons of different perspectives on everything related to raising children including dentistry. To help parents, I have created this blog dedicated to unraveling dental myths about children. I am including posts that weigh both sides of issues such as thumb sucking, dental caries, breastfeeding, flossing and any other topic I can think of. I hope you find the information you need to unravel dental myths, but most importantly, I hope you find some peace of mind. With kids and dentistry, there can be more than one right answer, and I want you to be able to relax and go with the answer that's right for you.
