7 Steps to Ensure Your Child’s Smile Lasts a Lifetime

Tooth decay is not a simple fact of childhood, and it is entirely preventable with a few simple steps. Decay in the baby teeth can lead to extractions that could cause the adult teeth to emerge incorrectly, leading to crowding and poorly aligned teeth. It could also encourage decay in the adult teeth, which could lead to permanent tooth loss.

In order to encourage your child to develop good oral health habits for life, we’re exploring some of our favourite tips to help encourage your child to take good care of their teeth. Alongside regular dental checkups, consider the following tips to help encourage good oral hygiene at home.

Remember that children copy what they see around them, so one of the best ways to encourage good oral health habits is to make sure you are following them yourself. In this blog, we have 7 top toothbrushing tips to keep your children’s teeth looking their best:

1. Use a soft small headed toothbrush

Brush teeth using a soft, small headed toothbrush. Follow a set routine each time you brush to ensure that no area is missed. It’s easy to assume that children know what they are doing or that they will have learned these things at school, but this isn’t always the case.

It’s always helpful to give your child prompts and reminders to help them to make sure they don’t miss any areas of their mouth. You can also make a fun game of this by using a plaque revealing mouthwash to show areas that they have missed.

2. Make sure they brush twice a day

Brush teeth twice a day, before bed and at least one other time during the day. Brushing before bed ensures that the bacteria is removed from teeth and teeth are protected when saliva production is reduced during the night.

It is important that you assist your children with teeth brushing until they are 7 or you are confident they are brushing correctly by themselves. Switching to an electric toothbrush can help to ensure their brushing technique isn’t leading to missed spots in the mouth.

3. Do not rinse after brushing

Encourage children to spit out any excess toothpaste, but do not rinse. This ensures that the fluoride in the toothpaste is given time to work strengthening teeth. If they don’t like the taste of their toothpaste, try looking for a mild mint flavour one that will be less intense. You can also find toothpaste with pleasant flavours like lemon or strawberry.

4. Use a fluoride toothpaste

Always use a fluoride toothpaste. Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay by making teeth more resistant to acid attacks from plaque bacteria and sugars in the mouth. It also reverses early decay.

Children under 3 years old should brush twice daily, with a smear of toothpaste containing at least 1,000ppm fluoride.

Children between 3 and 6 years old should brush at least twice daily with a pea-sized amount of toothpaste containing more than 1,000ppm fluoride.

Children over 6 should brush at least twice daily with a toothpaste containing 1,350-1,500ppm fluoride.

Don’t be fooled by toothpaste brands claiming to be natural or fluoride free. Research has proven time and time again that fluoride is perfectly safe for children and adults, so there is no reason to seek out alternatives.

5. Wait before eating or drinking

It is important to wait at least 30 minutes after eating or drinking before brushing. Food and drinks soften tooth enamel and brushing straight after a meal can wear the enamel away and once the enamel is removed it cannot be replaced. This is particularly important before consuming acidic things like fruit juice or cordial.

6. Make brushing fun

To ensure that toothbrushing does not become a battle, make it fun. Choosing a favourite song you can brush along to, allow your children to choose their own toothbrush and use a reward chart to track brushing.

Buy a two-minute egg timer to help your child have a visual representation of the time they need to keep brushing for. They could add a star to their reward chart every time they brush for the required length. By taking these simple steps to make brushing teeth fun and rewarding, it stops being a chore and becomes a daily habit that they will continue well into adulthood.

7. Use encouragement

We all know children like to copy things. Brushing your teeth in front of your child can encourage them to brush theirs too. Encouragement is essential. Rather than punishing children for not wanting to brush, try to keep the focus positive by rewarding them for wanting to brush.

You don’t need to blow it out of proportion, as this will only encourage daily meltdowns when the time comes to brush. Take the pressure off by keeping things casual and fun. And remember it’s okay to skip brushing once in a while. If your child comes home from a long trip and is already sleeping, you can skip the brushing and avoid making it a traumatic experience.

Final thoughts

Provided you are visiting the dentist regularly (every 6 months) then your dentist will be able to monitor the condition of your child’s teeth so you’ll know if you’re brushing enough. Regular dental checkups will also allow your dentist to monitor how the adult teeth emerge, so they’ll be able to recommend if your child needs braces.

At Benfleet Dental Centre, we have years of experience in being able to treat the whole family and with our focus on preventative dentistry we understand by putting in good oral hygiene routines from a young age we can help to future proof your family’s smile.

Call 01702 557766 to book a consultation appointment today!