The best time to lay a firm foundation for your children’s oral and dental health is when they are young. Hence, instilling or teaching healthy dental and oral care habits must begin when your children are young. Although figuring out how to teach your children excellent dental care habits can be tough and stressful, you do not have to cope with it alone.
A reliable and seasoned dentist can guide you, as a guardian or parent, in teaching your children excellent dental and oral hygiene. With proper and early guidance, your children can grow up knowing the importance of excellent dental and oral care.
Aside from helping them grow with the healthy smiles they deserve throughout their lifetime, these teachings can help your loved ones avoid several dental issues that many people, including adults, experience due to a lack of awareness.
What Constitutes Oral and Dental Hygiene?
Before we discuss the strategies you can use to teach your children excellent oral hygiene, you would want to know the meaning of oral and dental hygiene. Generally speaking, oral and dental hygiene refers to having healthy and clean gums, teeth, and tongue.
When you fail to invest time and enough effort to ensure your and your loved one’s oral cavity (mouth) is clean and healthy, several problems could develop. When left uncleaned or wiped off, the food particles that linger or remain in your mouth after eating will form a yellowish or brownish coating on your teeth enamel known as plaque.
When left unchecked, plaque can create a conducive breeding environment for harmful bacteria to thrive and produce acidic secretions that can cause your teeth’ enamel to develop tiny holes (cavities).
Therefore, teaching your child or children the importance of excellent oral hygiene and how to achieve it is vital to keeping these issues at bay.
Critical Oral and Dental Care Habits to Instill in Your Children
Adults you see with excellent and healthy smiles did not achieve it overnight, and one of the reasons behind it all is that someone, probably their parents or guardians, did their job of teaching them excellent dental care habits from a young age. Are you interested in ensuring your children grow with healthy teeth and gums? Below are the critical oral and dental care habits you must teach them:
Teeth Brushing
Brushing your teeth at least twice daily for less than two minutes after every meal is advisable to ensure they are clean and plaque-free. Therefore, once your child develops primary “milk” teeth, you should teach him/her how to clean and brush them properly.
Unfortunately, most adults do not pay much attention to understanding how the teeth brushing process works because it is a habit they do every day. Due to this, it could be challenging to teach and train your children how to clean and brush their teeth properly.
Since children are not born knowing how to hold a toothbrush or brush their teeth, you must instill this crucial skill in them as they grow for optimal oral and dental health. Remember to teach them how to brush their gums and tongue, which can accumulate bacteria and food particles as much as their teeth.
Although word of mouth and practical lessons could work, you should also consider using YouTube videos to help them learn how to brush their teeth, gums, and tongue effectively.
Healthy Eating
Eating healthy food is necessary not only for your overall body health but also for your dental and oral health. To that end, you should teach your child the importance of eating specific foods that can help improve his/her dental and oral health, such as:
- Leafy vegetables
- Cheese, yogurt, and other milk products
- Lean meat
- Salmon
- Eggs
- Whole grains and seeds
- Green tea
In addition to these healthy foods, you should also inform your child about foods that can reverse their efforts to maintain healthy teeth and gums, such as:
- Citrus fruits
- Candy and lollipops
- Hard nuts
- Soda and other sweetened beverages
- Red wine and coffee
Teeth Flossing
Although frequent and regular teeth flossing and brushing are crucial and much-needed dental and oral care habits, there is more to ensuring your teeth and gums are healthy throughout your lifetime. Treating your natural teeth with fluoride is vital to keeping them healthy because this mineral can help strengthen your teeth’ enamel, reversing cavity issues.
Therefore, when teaching your children vital dental and oral care tips, remind them of the importance of using fluoridated mouthwash and toothpaste. When a child consumes fluoride, this mineral enters his/her bloodstream and helps him/her develop strong, permanent teeth.
Therefore, in addition to feeding your children the healthy foods mentioned above, you must ensure their daily mouthwash and toothpaste contain fluoride.
Routine Dental Visits
Another crucial way to teach your children excellent oral hygiene is by introducing them to routine dental visits early. The earlier your children start going to the dentist for regular cleanings and examinations, the healthier their mouths will stay for the rest of their lives.
It is crucial to arrange for your child to see a dentist every six months or twice a year to check their mouth health, even if they do not have any dental or oral health problems. Regular dental check-ups are important for the following reasons:
- They help a dentist prevent malocclusions and teeth misalignment issues, like crowded teeth and overbite
- They help a dentist detect the early stages of cavities and prevent their progression before the issue becomes severe
- They help the dentist keep your child’s mouth clean for optimal oral and dental health
- They give a dentist a chance to teach your children the importance of proper dental and oral hygiene
- It helps your child grow without dental phobia and anxiety
Helpful Tips on How to Teach Your Children Healthy Oral and Dental Hygiene Practices
Teaching a child excellent oral and dental hygiene is not a simple duty, but it will be worthwhile. Once your child turns two, you must build up your teaching skills and efforts to ensure he/she understands the importance of proper dental and oral hygiene.
Below are a few tips that can help you, the parent or guardian, teach your child the healthy oral and dental hygiene habits he/she needs for healthy teeth and gums:
Begin Early
It is advisable to introduce your child to healthy oral and dental hygiene habits as soon as his/her first teeth erupt on the surface of his/her gums. When a child adopts healthy oral and dental care habits from a young age, it becomes easier for him/her to adopt and practice them daily without hassle as he/she grows older.
Once he/she is about six years old, you should be ready to explain the entire process to him/her in a way he/she can understand best. When he/she completely understands what teeth brushing entails, you should introduce him/her to teeth flossing and explain to him/her the importance of this practice.
Lead by Example
Understand that your child will learn more from your habits than he/she will from another person, meaning you should set an excellent example for him/her. You can do that by asking the child to accompany you every time you brush your teeth and show him/her how to do it correctly.
When your child sees you flossing and brushing your teeth twice daily, he/she is more likely to walk in the same steps.
Reward the Child for Excellent Oral Hygiene and Consistency
A reward is one of the most significant sources of motivation to encourage your child to practice excellent oral hygiene. A well-planned reward system would help develop a routine and monitor your child’s dental and oral care habits.
For example, you can reward your child with a fun outing or a new toothbrush for practicing and staying consistent with excellent oral and dental hygiene habits.
Devote Adequate Time
Sometimes, your child could be eager to finish his/her daily oral care routine and proceed with other fun activities, meaning he/she could fail to brush and floss his/her teeth properly. Therefore, you must ensure he/she devotes adequate time to his/her daily oral hygiene routine to remove food particles and plaque buildup on the surface of his/her teeth and gums.
The best way to ensure your child devotes adequate time to his/her daily oral care routine is to set a timer that makes him/her feel in control.
Use Varying Educational Tools
As mentioned above, do not only rely on word of mouth and practical lessons when teaching your child oral hygiene habits. Other educational tools, like online videos and books, can help your children understand the importance of excellent oral and dental hygiene and how to ensure their mouths are healthy.
Find Fun Supplies
Letting your child pick his/her favorite toothpaste, toothbrush, and cup is a wise idea. Fortunately, several child-friendly products are available to make your child feel excited and eager to brush and floss their teeth daily.
It is unlikely that your child will rush to the sink to brush his/her teeth with the minty toothpaste that many adults enjoy, but he/she will do so if his/her toothpaste is watermelon or orange-flavored.
Choose a Reliable Pediatric Dentist
While all these tips are essential to ensuring your children grow with excellent oral and dental health, having a reliable pediatric dentist is more important. These specialists play a crucial role in childhood teeth development and know how to make a child feel comfortable at every dental check-up appointment.
Unfortunately, finding a reliable pediatric dentist for their children can be daunting for many parents. Below are tips that can lessen your options for finding a reliable pediatric dentist without hassle:
- Consider the dentist’s qualifications and experience
- Consider the dentist’s reputation
- Consider the dentist’s accessibility and availability
- Consider whether the dentist is licensed
- Consider the dentist’s cost of services
As a parent or guardian, it is crucial to dedicate some time daily to teach your children excellent oral and dental hygiene practices. Doing that can encourage and motivate your children to keep practicing these healthy oral care habits, even if you are not around to supervise them.
Importance of Excellent Oral and Dental Hygiene in Children
Some dental issues can cause your child to experience gum health issues, cavities, and other complications during his/her childhood or later in life. Hence, giving your children proper teaching and guidance on oral and dental health matters is vital to lowering their chances of developing these health issues. Here are the benefits of excellent oral and dental hygiene practices for children:
- It helps in cognitive development
- It helps boost his/her overall health
- It helps prevent possible dental complications like teeth grinding and bite issues
- It helps prevent psychological consequences
- It helps boost the aesthetic appearance of your child’s smile
Generally speaking, training your loved ones and encouraging them to practice excellent oral and dental hygiene habits ensures proper dental functions, reduced pain issues, and minimal expenses on oral and dental emergencies.
Nonetheless, excellent oral hygiene can help boost children’s social development. A child with healthy and well-aligned teeth will not be afraid to flaunt his/her “celebrity-like” smile when talking with his/her friends or at any social gathering.
Teaching and training your children about excellent dental and oral care practices vital to their lives helps ensure their gums and teeth remain healthy even in adulthood. Doing that can help them avoid several dental and oral health issues that many adults experience.
If you are unsure when to start teaching your children oral and dental hygiene practices and what to teach them, a dentist could help.
Find a Credible Pediatric Dentist Near Me
Following the above tips is the first place to start if you want to ensure your children grow with healthy smiles they can admire every time they look in the mirror. If you are looking for a competent pediatric dentist or would like personalized professional guidance to help your children maintain bright and healthy smiles, our dentists at The Lakewood Dentist can help. Call us at 562-423-1441 to discuss your concerns with our understanding and reputable team of pediatric dentists.