Taking Care of Your Kids Dental Health
Teaching children to wash and floss will encourage them to stop having dental problems throughout their lives. While excellent dental hygiene is vital for everyone, regardless of age, teaching good habits early in your child’s life will help prevent the stress often associated with dental visits. Also, children’s excellent health translates into good health.
Establishing an oral hygiene routine helps protect your child from tooth problems. Here are some ideas that can contribute to good oral health.
Proper Dental Hygiene in the Early Stages
Proper dental hygiene habits should begin even before babies have their teeth. We can use a washcloth dipped in filtered with water in cleaning the baby’s gums and teeth.
Use Fluoride Toothpaste
Take note that once the milk tooth arrives, children should be using Flouride toothpaste (usually around the 6th month), this will protect teeth from dental caries. They also recommend using fluoride toothpaste, which contains 1000 ppm fluoride for children less than three years of age, while 1350 ppm to 1500 ppm fluoride for children aged 3 to 6 years. When brushing childrens teeth, make sure they do not swallow the toothpaste.
Proper Brushing Method
Children must brush their teeth regularly. Knowing how to brush their teeth properly helps children develop healthy oral practices. The description of the brushing technique should not be complicated for parents. They can explain with simple actions on how to maintain children’s movements and also how to brush, for starters.
Learn How to Floss
Flossing is essential for good dental health; it can remove food residue stuck in between the teeth, which brushing may have missed. Although challenging, it helps prevent dental caries and bad breath. They should begin to floss after having their last two molars.
Eat Nutritious Foods
The child needs to eat healthy foods to maintain his or her well-being. Sugar hidden in food and drink tends to form cavities. Include non-processed cheese, yogurt, milk, raw fruits, and vegetables in your kid’s diet instead.Raisins and other dried fruit snacks are suitable for the health, but they can stick in between the teeth and cause dental problems. Therefore, limit sticky foods to prevent cavities. Drinking water after meals, especially after eating sweets, reduces the potential for dental caries.
Regular Dental Visit
Make it a habit to have a dental visit at least once a year as soon as the child reached the second year. It helps children to get to know their environment and to correct and avoid dental problems in the future, if possible, without having to perform complicated procedures.