While your children can create healthy habits at any age, it’s easiest to teach and instil habits if you get them started early enough that it becomes the norm. Follow our 3 easy steps for taking care of your children’s teeth so they can benefit from a healthy mouth for life.
Step one: visiting the dentist
There is no need to ‘prepare’ your child for a visit to the dentist. It should be a casual visit, just like going to the shops. Book yourself a visit to the dentist and bring them with you. This way you can lead them by example and it will your child to get used to the practice and get to know the dentists. There is no need for a young child to be examined or sit in the dental chair at first. The most important thing is that we can build a great and relaxed relationship with yourself and also the child.
Step two: taking care with your child’s diet
It’s vital that children develop good eating habits. This will do more to protect their general health as well as dental health in later life.
• Ensure water is the main drink consumed if you want your child to have juice keep it strictly for meal times only
• Stick to regular meal times and discourage overly snacking
• Limit sugary foods sweets and fizzy drinks should be avoided as much as possible. These foods should be encouraged as treat foods and never foods that are consumed on a regular basis.
TOP TIP – cheese is great for snacking on and can be combined with many fruits such as apples, grapes and pear to give a delicious yet healthy snack.
Step three: tooth brushing
As soon as your baby has a tooth, brush it gently with a soft baby brush and a smear of toothpaste twice a day. Your baby will soon want to try brushing, and this should be encouraged even though they might just chew the brush a lot at first!
Children need to follow a very simple routine of using a fluoride toothpaste (appropriate for their age), brushing for two minutes and cleaning twice a day.
Give your child lots of praise, reinforce the message that they have very healthy teeth and show them how lovely and clean they are in the mirror.
Learn more about how we take care of your child’s teeth…
