Daily Oral Hygiene Tips to Maintain Your Child's Dental Health

Children are generally unconcerned with dental hygiene and wouldn’t think twice before indulging in habits harmful to their dental health. As a parent, you are responsible for teaching your child good habits to maintain their dental health. It includes taking them for regular dental checkups to the kid’s dentist in Burlington, ON, besides using the tips mentioned in this article to help your child have a healthy smile and robust oral health. While it will take some effort, it will be worth your time in the long run.

Besides ensuring your child gets the appropriate vitamin and minerals for healthy teeth, pediatric dentists suggest the following tips to teach a child dental care for their oral health. They are:

• Teaching Your Child the Correct Brushing Habits: Brushing teeth has a lot of dos and don’ts and is tricky when ensuring your child is brushing their teeth correctly. Therefore you must teach them to use gentle up-and-down motions ensuring they reach their gum line. Therefore you must ensure your child uses short strokes to brush the front, back, and top of the teeth. Brushing their tongue is also essential besides spitting out toothpaste and rinsing the mouth after they complete.
• Supervision: you must ensure you oversee your child’s brushing but also encourage them to spit toothpaste and not swallow it. Supervision ensures your child uses the recommended amount of toothpaste and properly rinses their mouth.
• Timers Help: get your child to brush their teeth twice daily for a minimum of two minutes at a time. Ensure they don’t complete brushing before two minutes by having a designated timer to make it easier for you to get your child to brush between each tooth. For example, the instrument in the bathroom can play some music lasting for two minutes, encouraging your child to continue brushing until it stops.
• Daily Flossing: flossing is essential to remove plaque between the teeth and the gum line. The children’s dental clinic recommends using fun flossing picks for children to make it comfortable for you to get between each tooth. The clinic can also demonstrate the correct way to floss children’s teeth with tips to make flossing easier.
• Fluoride Toothpaste: the Canadian Dental Association recommends parents consult with a pediatric dentist for children under 3 to determine whether they are at risk of tooth decay and use a tiny amount of fluoridated toothpaste the size of a rice grain. If your child is at low risk, you can brush their teeth with a toothbrush moistened with water. Children between three and six benefit from a pea-sized grain of fluoridated toothpaste for best results.
• Changing Toothbrushes: toothbrushes become ineffective in removing plaque from the teeth with regular use. Dentists recommend replacing toothbrushes every three months, even for children, because they chew and suck on the toothbrush, making it essential to replace it earlier if the bristles are frayed.
• Dental Checkups: children are more prone to cavities and dental problems than adults. Therefore they must receive six monthly dental checkups from the time their first tooth erupts.
• Limiting Acidic and Sugary Foods: Your child’s foods and beverages significantly impact their teeth and oral health. Sugary foods and beverages encourage bacterial buildup to cause tooth decay. In addition, acidic drinks or foods leave acidic residue on the teeth to cause enamel erosion. Therefore, pediatric dentists recommend limiting children from having acidic and sugary foods.
• Drinking Water: When considering dental care for kids, you must ensure they think plenty of water to ensure their mouth remains hydrated and doesn’t encourage plaque buildup. You can help promote excellent dental health by encouraging your child to drink a glass of water after waking up and packing a water bottle in their lunchbox to school.
• Refraining Children from Using Teeth As Tools: do not permit your child to use teeth as tools to open, tear, or break anything other than food. Refraining children from chewing on complex objects by following a similar principle ensures you set an excellent example for your child to care for their teeth.
• Discuss Concerns with the Pediatric Dentist: If you notice changes in your child’s teeth or habits like teeth grinding and clenching, discuss your concerns with the child’s pediatric dentist immediately. Get your child a mouthguard customized by the dentist instead of purchasing over-the-counter appliances providing them with the protection they need from impacts on the mouth when involved in sporting activities.

If you don’t have a pediatric dentist for your child, we suggest you take them to Harbourview Dental for a consultation. The children’s dental clinic experts in Burlington will suggest daily dental hygiene tips to maintain your child’s oral health.