Top tips for good oral hygiene in Children
Top tips for good oral hygiene in Children
With all the children now heading back to school after the long summer break, the team at The Dental Studio look at the vital part a good oral hygiene routine plays in keeping teeth healthy from an early age.
In this month’s blog we look at some of the common problems in achieving this and tips to ensure your children’s teeth stay in tip top condition.
- Not brushing for two minutes
Brushing for two minutes is a totally unknown length of time for many young children. A great way to ensuring that they are brushing for the required length of time is to introduce a fun timer using their favourite song, an egg timer or an electric toothbrush with a built in timer. This way they get a clear idea of how long they need to be brushing their teeth for.
A brilliant free app – Brush DJ – is also available to download from most app stores. It plays two minutes of music from your existing playlists and is a great way to get children to brush for the full recommended two minutes. For more information, visit www.brushdj.com
- Not wanting to brush their teeth
Making brushing fun is the best way to ensure you build an effective oral hygiene routine from an early age.
- You could allow them to pick their own toothbrush with a favourite cartoon character on it.
- Make a special toothbrush holder with stickers and coloured paper
- Brush along to a favourite song
- Fill in a brushing reward chart every day leading to a reward at the end of the month
- Use one of the many toothbrushing apps to help make brushing more interesting
Top tips for children’s teeth brushing
- Use a toothbrush recommended by your dental team and get your children to choose their favourite colours or characters
- Use a suitable fluoride strength toothpaste for their age group:
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- Under three years old – 1000ppm
- Over three years old – 1350-1500ppm
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- Find a toothpaste that they like the flavour of – there are many on the market
- Children easily swallow toothpaste so it’s best to use a smear of toothpaste for babies and children up to three years of age, and a pea-sized blob for children aged three to six
- Brush for two minutes, twice a day. This should be last thing at night and on one other occasion during the day – usually in the morning.
- Divide brushing into four sections in the mouth and brush each quadrant for 30 seconds – upper left, upper right, lower right, lower left.
- Brush in a circular motion and brush each surface of each tooth – tops and sides.
- Spit the toothpaste out after brushing but don’t rinse. Rinsing washes away the protective fluoride
- Visit the dentist as soon as your child’s first tooth comes through and attend for regular appointments from then on
If you would like some more help and advice on ensuring your children’s teeth stay healthy, call The Dental Studio on 01206 845891 and book an appointment, all our team are highly experienced dealing with children and can ensure that any visit is fun and stress free!
