Children’s dental health is super duper important.
How we look after our teeth early in our life affects how healthy our teeth can be and how much work we need to be done later in life. And if you are an adult who knows what it is like to get lots of dental work done, you will know that the best thing in the world is to be able to avoid this. Saving yourself lots of money, pain and heartache down the line is always a good thing.
As parents, it is up to us to make sure that our children’s dental health is the best it can be. They aren’t old enough to worry about these things yet but when they are older, they will be grateful that you helped them start on the right track.
So, with that in mind, this blog is going to talk about the easiest ways to look after your children’s dental health, so that you can both be on the aforementioned right track from the beginning.
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Start healthy habits early
As with all things, the best way to get results is to work with long-term, health habits. We can’t do something a couple of times only and expect great results.
And this is definitely the case when it comes to children’s dental health.
If we want our children’s teeth to be as healthy as possible, we need to make sure that we are getting them into the way of practising good dental health habits early.
It is never too early to show your children to brush their teeth twice a day, keep sweets to a minimum, and use things like mouthwash. The more they get used to these things, the easier it will be for them to maintain the good habits their entire life.
Try not to make dentist appointments a big deal
One of the main reasons that people have issues with their teeth is that they don’t visit the dentist regularly. A lot of people with dental anxiety will actually avoid going to the dentist either for checkups or for treatment they know they need because of their anxiety.
One of the best ways to look after your children’s dental health is to try to actively lessen this potential fear of the dentist.
You can do this by trying not to make dental appointments that big of a deal, model good dentist-visiting practice yourself, and reward your children for going to the dentist.
Children very often copy our fears and take them on as their own. The more that we can show them that going to the dentist is ok and just a normal part of life, the better their attitude towards the dentist will be throughout their own lives.
Model good behaviours and build a solid routine
As we’ve mentioned, one of the very best things you can do for your children’s dental health is to practice good behaviours yourself. This can mean going to the dentist regularly and showing your children that it is ok to do so. It can also mean showing your child that you take good care of your teeth every day, and showing them how to do it.
An easy way to do this is to involve your child when you are brushing and flossing in the morning and at night. Show them how you do it and encourage them to do the same. This way, you can easily build a daily routine with them that becomes a lifelong habit.
You can also have some fun with it too. Showing your child that taking care of their teeth doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom can really help them out down the line. Little things that fun toothbrushes with their favourite characters, light up toothbrushes, and different flavoured toothpaste can all really help.
Keep it easy and keep doing it every day and you will see that your children’s dental health improves year by year.
Use positive reinforcement, not shame
Historically, children who have had issues with their teeth have been shamed by all sorts of people, parents and dentists included. This shame causes avoidance of the dentist, avoidance of talking about dental care, and can actually cause the children to take less care of their teeth down the line. Shame has no positive effect when it comes to children’s dental health and it should be avoided at all costs.
A much better approach to dealing with children’s dental health is to use lots of positive reinforcement and rewards.
If your child has to get a filling or some work done, this isn’t the end of the world. Making them feel bad about it will do nothing good. But rewarding them for going to the dentist to get it fixed, being brave during the procedure, and continuing to take care of the new filling, is a much better way to go.
It is how we deal with the problems in our children’s dental health that can arise that will determine how our children feel about their teeth and the dentist.
That makes it pretty darn important.
Don’t sweat the small stuff
In a similar vein, our last point of advice is, don’t sweat the small stuff.
If your kid misses a few nights of flossing, it’s ok. If they need a filling early in life, that’s ok too.
Children’s dental health is important and it is worth taking care of, but it isn’t the end of the world either. Having a positive and reasonable attitude towards any issue is usually the best way to set our kids up for success in the future.
Keep it easy.
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