Many pediatric dentists agree that it can be difficult to enforce the rules of proper dental hygiene for children under 5. They often have trouble brushing their teeth properly, and they don't have a clear understanding of the effects that too many sugary foods can have on the health of their little teeth. With this in mind, it is important to to implement the following tips in order to help your child maintain healthy pearly whites!
Don’t allow your little one to nibble on fruit snacks or raisins all day long.
We know that raisins and fruit snacks of all kinds are an especially popular and convenient snack for kids. When nibbling on sugary snacks, your child's teeth are constantly in contact with sugar. Instead, limit sugary snacks by establishing a kind of routine. For example, offer them a sweet treat 3 times per day, at
given hours. It's best to limit the amount of time they spend sipping on juice, too. If you allow enough time to pass between eating sweets and drinking sugary beverages, the mouth has enough time to become acid free. In
between meals, try giving your child water to drink and limit the sugary beverages to meal-times -- or even better, only once a day as a treat!
Brushing the teeth of small kids can be an extremely challenging task.
However, you as a parent need to brush as many teeth as you can at a
time while your child is willing to keep their mouth open. If you can't get them all at once, that's ok! You don't want to make brushing time a bad experience. Come back later and brush the rest of the teeth when your child is willing to open their mouth again. For babies, use a soft damp cloth or gauze to clean the inside of their mouth, their baby teeth and the gums.
An easy and comfortable method of brushing your child’s teeth is to stand behind them when brushing.
This will give you enough dexterity, because you are in the same position as you are when brushing your own teeth.
When children brush their teeth, try having them spit the toothpaste, but not to rinse.
If they rinse with water, the effect of the fluoride will be minimized. Try not to rinse so the teeth can stay in contact as long as possible with the fluoride from the toothpaste.
Before bedtime, give them water.
Once your child has brushed their teeth in the evening, stay away from offering them anything but water to take to bed with them. The best thing to do, is to fill the bottle or cup with plain water.
Have any questions? Let us know and we'd be happy to help you answer them!
Referral Source: Dental Health Magazine
