One fact many parents don’t know is that their children are as healthy as the state of their oral health.
A child that has dental problems such as toothache may not be able to feed well because of the pain. This may result in malnutrition and reduced body immunity, giving room for sicknesses to attack such a child. To keep your children healthy, you must ensure that their oral health is not neglected.
Parents have a lot of roles to play in ensuring their kids have healthy teeth and in teaching them to observe good oral hygiene.
Are you looking for ways you can help your children keep healthy teeth? Here are practicable ways parents can help their children enjoy good dental health.
1. Start Oral Hygiene Early for Your Children
As a healthy practice, parents should start oral hygiene early enough for their children to ensure good dental health. There is no need to wait until your kids start erupting teeth before commencing oral hygiene for them.
For babies, ensure you clean their gum pads with a soft clean and damp piece of cloth.
Introduce a toothbrush and toothpaste as soon as the first tooth erupts. For children under 3 years of age, brush their teeth with a soft bristle toothbrush and a smear of toothpaste (size of a grain of rice).
For children 3 years and above, brush their teeth with a pea size of toothpaste and soft bristled toothbrush.
2. Teach Your Children Proper Brushing Techniques
When it comes to teaching your children proper brushing techniques, you need to start quite early. In fact, the earlier the better. The goal here is for them to make it a habit in doing the right thing regarding brushing.
It is important you teach your kids that brushing their teeth properly does not only help them maintain good oral health but also keeps them healthy generally. As a parent, always encourage your children to use the right techniques and the right toothbrush when brushing their teeth. This implies that you should know and apply the correct techniques yourself.
Tell your children that poor oral hygiene can have a negative impact on their teeth. Teach them that one good way to avoid dental problems is by maintaining a proper oral hygiene practice.
Also encourage them to brush twice daily for 2 to 3 minutes after breakfast and the last thing before bedtime. Flossing should be done at least once daily. Older children can brush their teeth and floss on their own.
3. Encourage Healthy Eating Habits
We are as healthy as what we eat, and in the case of your children, you must ensure they eat foods that are not detrimental to their oral health.
Tooth decay is the most common oral health problem worldwide. It results from taking certain foods and drinks which are not healthy for the teeth. These foods contain refined sugar, which when acted upon by bacteria in the mouth may cause tooth decay.
Tooth decay is most likely to occur when kids consume these refined sugar containing food products regularly. The chances are even more if the kids who eat these products have poor oral hygiene.
Reducing the amount of sugary foods your kids take daily and ensuring they practice good oral hygiene will help reduce their risk of developing tooth decay.
4. Ensure Your Kids Brush with a Fluoride Toothpaste
Fluoride is important for maintaining good oral health as it keeps the teeth healthy by making them strong and resistant against tooth decay. Because of the increased incidence of tooth decay, fluoride is now incorporated into most toothpastes. Some communities have fluoridated water supply. Fluoride has also been incorporated into certain mouthwashes and dental floss.
Fluoride is essential for kids, especially those who are at higher risks of developing tooth decay. Using a fluoridated toothpaste helps counteract the effect of the byproducts of the bacteria-sugar interaction. Fluoride also strengthens the enamel against tooth decay.
It is important you ensure your kids don’t swallow toothpaste while brushing. Also teach them to use the right amount of toothpaste and the correct amount of fluoride for their age. fluoride requirement for children less than 6 years of age or in their primary (milk) dentition stage is 500 ppm.
5. Be a Role Model
Role modeling is one of the most effective ways in teaching children. Children tend to learn fast when they see you do it. This means that if there is something you are doing wrong about your oral health, you have to stop it and make amends if you want a healthy outcome for your children. It is not reasonable to want your children to cut down on sugar when sugary products are your favorite meal. It will be difficult to get your children to brush twice daily when you brush once.
Whatever change you want for your children begins with you. The easiest way to teach your children is to be their role model. If they see you do it, it will be easier for them to give it a try.
6. Limit Digit Sucking and Use of Pacifiers
Digit sucking is natural for most children. However, prolonged digit sucking is not healthy as it can have a negative impact on the child’s oral health as well as their physical and emotional development.
Children who suck their digits after the age of three are at risk of developing anterior open bite, deep bite, proclined upper anterior teeth and other forms of malocclusion.
Although it is harmless for babies to suck their thumb, it is advisable to discourage digit sucking once the child is up to three years of age. This is to prevent them from developing any form of malocclusion and speech problems.
Pacifiers on the same hand are potential causes of dental issues such as cross bite, open bite and other forms of orthodontic problems.
Children that are 3 years and older should not use pacifiers.
7. Ensure a Safe Environment for your Kids
Dental trauma is common among children, especially the male gender, because they are very active and quite playful. To avoid experiencing dental emergencies due to trauma, parents should ensure that both the home and school environments are safe for their children.
Carpet floors at the home are safer for children than concrete and tiled floors as they have a better cushioning effect, making the impact of falls minimal.
Construct school playgrounds with materials that can cushion the impact of falls. Grassy grounds have better cushioning effects compared to concrete floors.
8. Make it Fun
A lot of children dread brushing their teeth. If you want to stop struggling with your children whenever it is time to clean their teeth, you have to devise ways to make oral hygiene fun.
Consider brushing alongside your children when it is brushing time.
Have you thought of playing certain fun rhymes for your kids when it is time for cleaning their teeth?
You can create a reward system for your kids when they correctly observe the steps you taught them on good oral hygiene practice.
Ensure Regular Dental Checkups for your Kids
The American Association of Paediatric Dentistry recommends that every child should have their first dental visit by age of 1 or within 6 months after erupting their first tooth.
Make it a habit of taking your kids to see a dentist even when there is no obvious dental complaint. Doing this will not only keep your children healthy but will also prevent serious oral health issues like tooth decay. It will also help your kids to form good oral hygiene habits.
Children who visit the dental clinic regularly, are not likely to experience dental anxiety. The reason is quite simple. Most of the things that could make them anxious within the dental clinic like the sound of dental instruments, white coat of the dentist and the uniform of the dental team, are things they are already used to.
Regular dental visit makes it possible for early detection of any dental problems, thereby preventing potential complications. For example, a child that maintains his or her 6 monthly routine visits stands a good chance of having a developing tooth decay detected early. This save a lot of time and resources.
Conclusion
To raise healthy children as parents, you need to ensure that your kids’ oral health is given proper attention. Allowing your children come down with dental cavities is an act of neglect. To protect your children against tooth decay, make conscious effort in ensuring that they practice good oral hygiene.
Dental emergencies in children are quite common. They include mobile tooth due to trauma, fractured tooth, tooth avulsion, and fractured jaw bone. These can be prevented by monitoring children and ensuring their safety, especially when they are playing.
