Dental Hygiene For Kids!
We all want our best for our children. We want them to grow up healthy and big and stong so we feed them the right diet and make sure they excercise but one of the most commonly neglected health issues with children these days is their dental hygiene.
You might think that dental hygiene is not as important with children because they lose their baby teeth anyways but you could not be more wrong. Their overall oral health when they are younger, determines how healthy their adult teeth will be when they begin to come in at age 6. In fact, good dental hygiene habits should begin before their first baby tooth even pops up by wiping their gums with a soft damp cloth after feedings to help prevent the buildup of bacteria.
Once the teeth begin to appear, you can start to use a soft children’s toothbrush twice a day. When your child reaches preschool age, you should start using toothpaste with their brushing, using the same ammount as the size of a pea. Children tend to swallow most of the toothpaste which is why you don’t want to put too much on the brush. Too much fluorides can be bad for them as well.
Children can get cavities and tooth decay just like adults can and are higher risk if they are born premature or are fairly light weight. They can also be at higher risk if they have any special health care needs or have white spots or brown areas on their teeth. If any of these are the case, you want to make sure that they visit the dentist regularily. To help prevent cavities in children, avoid giving them anything but water to go to sleep with. If your child has a snack or a meal that is particularily sticky or full of sugar, add an extra brushing in and make sure that you get all of that type of stuff off of their teeth as soon as possible.
Treat you childrens teeth as carefully as you treat your own and if you have any questions, make sure that you talk you your dentist. They will be able to tell you everything that you need to know about keeping your child’s teeth as healthy and strong as possible!
I am glad to see a Blog out there like this. Starting children early in the care of their teeth and gums is the best way to start a habit for life. One of the things that I have found is that my kid’s (3 and 5 years of age) like flossing as much if not more than brushing because we found the DenTek Fun Flossers and they make it easy and fun to floss themselves and with our assistance. They have a great design, great flavor, and are easy to use. We get high marks from their dentist everytime we visit and they can tell that we floss and brush properly. Check them out at Dentek.com.
Oral Hygiene is very important from the very beginning it will help you solid foundation for future healthy smile.