How To Maintain Your Child’s Dental Health
It’s crucial to establish appropriate oral hygiene practices early on if you want to keep your teeth and gums healthy for the rest of your life.
Use these straightforward suggestions to teach your kids good dental hygiene habits.
- Maintaining oral hygiene and brushing
To maintain lifelong dental and gum health, good oral hygiene practices should be instilled in children at a young age. For infants, toddlers, children, and teenagers, here are some fundamentals:
Infants (0–12 months): After feedings, wipe your baby’s gums with a clean, soft, damp cloth or gauze to eliminate bacteria and stop the formation of plaque.
Start using a soft-bristled toothbrush and a small amount of non-fluoridated toothpaste to brush the first tooth as soon as it appears.
Toddlers (ages 1-3): Encourage your child to use a small amount of fluoride toothpaste to brush their teeth twice a day.
Typically, only a small amount of toothpaste—about the size of a grain of rice—should be used.
Make sure to watch the process of brushing to make sure all tooth surfaces are cleansed. No snacking after brushing your teeth at night.
Children (4–12 years): Continue to watch over your child’s brushing and flossing, and encourage them to brush for at least two minutes twice a day using a pea-sized amount of toothpaste and soft bristle brushes.
Teenagers (13 to 18 years old): Encourage your adolescent to keep brushing and flossing their teeth on a regular basis and to use mouthwash if necessary. People can start using dental floss once their dexterity has improved.
- Floss
Another crucial dental hygiene behaviour that kids should pick up early is flossing.
Where the toothbrush can’t, flossing aids in removing food bits and grime from between the teeth.
As soon as two teeth come into contact with one another, parents can begin flossing their child’s teeth.
Children should be encouraged to floss at least once a day once they are old enough to do it on their own.
By wrapping the floss over their fingers and gently squeezing it between teeth, parents can demonstrate how to floss to their kids.
Although flossing may be challenging for kids at first, it will get easier with practice.
- Eating patterns
Consume fruits, nuts, and foods high in fibre. In comparison to manufactured juices and foods, the natural sugar found in fruits is less hazardous when consumed in moderation.
The integrity of oral health depends on micronutrients like vitamin D (excellent early morning sun exposure), calcium (dairy products, nuts, green leafy vegetables), vitamin C (citrus fruits, bell pepper, broccoli), and vitamin E (spinach, almonds, and carrots).
Obtain these nutrients from your meals. Your main adversary when it comes to avoiding foods that are bad for your dental health are processed meals (which promote the growth of dangerous germs), sugar-rich foods (which increase the buildup of plaque), and carbonated beverages (which weaken your teeth).
- Routine Dental Exams
It is a fallacy that milk teeth don’t need to be taken care of because permanent teeth will eventually replace them. Early growth in the mouth and the masticatory system begins before birth, despite the fact that the first teeth erupt 8 to 9 months after birth.
When a newborn is born, the permanent dentition begins to form, and many elements come together to ensure that both dentitions are healthy.
Routine care can occasionally be neglected willfully or unwillfully, which might result in serious issues requiring lengthy therapies.
Taking your youngster to the dentist on a regular basis will ensure the following:
- They won’t be afraid of getting dental work done.
- Catching the first degradation early.
- Monitor whether the dentition is exfoliating normally and on schedule.
- Identify and eliminate harmful habits.
- Utilise mouthwash
Mouthwash can help destroy oral bacteria and improve breath.
Young children can begin using mouthwash, but parents should pick a product that is suitable for their child’s age.
Young children should not use mouthwash that contains alcohol because it may be hazardous if ingested.
To prevent them from swallowing mouthwash, children should use it under adult supervision.
Additionally, parents can teach their kids to swish the mouthwash around their mouth for the advised period of time, typically 30 seconds.
To choose the type of mouthwash that is most appropriate for you, consult your dentist.