Our team at Georgian Shores Dental Centre is proud to offer high-quality family dentistry services to help you take care of your whole family’s oral health. If you have young children and want to help them form good dental hygiene habits, here are a few tips on how to get started.
- Get Them Involved. While some parents choose to brush their child’s teeth for them during their early years, we recommend that you get your child involved in their own dental hygiene as early as possible. For toddlers, let your child pick out a new, soft-bristled toothbrush every three months, then allow them to brush their own teeth during brushing time. You should still brush their teeth again to make sure that all their teeth are being cleaned, but allowing them to do it the first time will help them start forming the habit and will make it easier for them to stick to it as they grow.
- Choose the Right Supplies. Another way to help your child build good habits when it comes to dental hygiene is to choose kid-friendly brushes and toothpaste. Many children find the strong mint flavours of most toothpastes too harsh and will prefer a milder flavour. In addition, many children’s dental supplies feature fun characters from their favourite shows, which can help make brushing a more appealing activity.
- Provide Incentives. Lastly, it’s important to understand that young children may need some extrinsic motivation to stick to good dental hygiene habits. Little kids do not generally think about the long-term benefits of good hygiene, and talking about how brushing properly will let them keep their teeth into old age is not likely to make an impression. Instead, we recommend using a reward system, such as a sticker chart or offering an extra bedtime story for good brushing, as a way to get them invested in good habits.