Healthy Teeth Tips For Kids

For all the young parents who have been waiting for this moment. That moment has now arrived. Your baby’s first tooth has appeared!

This tiny tooth will be the first of these wonderful tiny teeth that look lovely in your child’s mouth, and are so important in the health of your child. Keeping these teeth in great health plays a very important role in your child’s overall growth and development.

In this article we have bunched together some tips and some advice on how you can help your child achieve oral health success!

The best start is an early start!

Quite literally an early start is indeed the best start. You can start your baby with an oral hygiene routine even before the first teeth have erupted for your baby.

To do this well, we recommend that you start a routine of cleaning your baby’s gums by gently massaging their gums, twice a day with a soft washcloth. This will help clean away any bacteria from your baby’s gums.

The time for the specialized baby toothbrush is when your baby’s first teeth arrive. This specialized toothbrush has soft bristles so that they don’t hurt your baby’s gums. Place a tiny, almost a grain of rice sized amount of toothpaste on this toothbrush, and gently brush the erupted teeth.

Brush your teeth together with your baby!

Children mimic everything that their parents do. This mimicking of parents is especially vivid when the children are at the toddler stage. When you brush your teeth, have your toddler sit by your side, so that they can learn your brushing technique by observation. This show and tell will help teach then proper brushing technique, by just mimicking your brushing technique when they brush their own teeth.

Some children are more dexterous than others. Generally, you will find that your child’s brushing technique becomes proper at about the same time that they learn to tie the laces of their own shoes. So, keep a watch on them until you are confident that the brushing technique has been well learned.

Schedule an appointment with the Dentist!

For a lot of parents, a key concern tends to be when should they take their child for the child’s first dental appointment. A good rule of thumb would be to take your child on an appointment with the dentist when the child’s first tooth erupts or a bit before the child’s first birthday.

Starting them at an early age also helps familiarize the child with visiting the dentist and this can have a positive impact by eliminating fear or anxieties that children sometimes have when they visit the dentist’s office.

Our office is also extremely kid friendly. We have an aquarium that kids can watch colourful fish in. And we have a wide collection of children’s TV programs available to keep them engrossed while the dentist attends to them.

Maintaining excellent oral health for your child isn’t difficult if you follow these simple tips and work with a dentist you trust. If you have any questions or to learn more, please call our office our phone is 905-751-0009 or visit our website.

For further reading please visit the website of the Ontario Dental Association