Best Advice: How to Care for Your Child’s Oral Health

The first teeth of the children are important and the baby teeth are something that you should be happy about. They signify that your little one is growing up quickly.

Child’s oral health is of utmost significance as they lay the foundation for their future smile and also contribute towards the development of their oral health.

The special attention and care of a child’s oral health need to be given to the health of the gums and teeth. This will make all the difference and help your child develop healthy habits and reduce the risk of dental issues later in life.

Most parents have a number of queries regarding taking care of their child’s gums and teeth. Some of the most common questions that are asked by them include –

• When to take children for brushing?
• What is the ideal age for brushing the kid’s teeth?
• When should the kids be allowed to brush their teeth?

Here an attempt is made to help you take care of your kid’s teeth in the best way possible so that they can flaunt a beautiful smile in the future. Just take a look.

Keep the Child’s Teeth Clean

In the case of the new-borns, you should wipe the gums with a wet pad or cloth. This will assist in keeping the mouth clean. For those younger than the age of 3 years, you should take the amount of toothpaste equal to the size of a rice grain. Use toothpaste in a pea-sized amount for the kids older than 3 years of age. You should help your kid brush the teeth for a couple of minutes till you are sure that the kid has learned and is going to cover all the sides of the wall of the teeth.

Keep an Eye on the Thumb-sucking and Pacifiers

Both the thumb-sucking and the pacifiers are common habits among the kids. But if you are not careful then both these habits can wreak havoc on the shape of the mouth and the teeth of the kids. So to avoid the issues you should do away with the habits by the age of 3. If the need arises, then you can introduce pacifier instead of letting the kid suck on the thumb. This is simpler to eliminate as compared with the thumb-sucking habit. For the kids who use a pacifier, make sure to follow the rules –

1. Don’t clean the pacifier with your mouth
2. Don’t use sugar, sugary drink or honey for quoting the pacifier
3. Avoid pacifiers with moving parts or something containing inside them and try going for 1-piece pacifier

Avoid Baby Bottle Decay

You should avoid putting your infant or child to bed with a bottle of juice or milk. The sugary liquids cling to the teeth leading to bacteria feeding which can cause decaying of teeth. If you must, you should give your child a bottle to go to bed with and ensure that it contains just water and nothing else.

Teach Good Habits

Brushing is absolutely crucial and developing healthy oral hygiene habits early is essential to achieve great oral health for your child. You should not just start wiping your bay’s gums and teach her to brush when she comes of age. But you also need to focus on the nitty-gritty like teaching her to wash the brush well prior to using it. When 2 of the teeth of the kid come together, you should teach her to start flossing. Your dentist can guide you further regarding the techniques. After brushing and flossing, ensure you don’t give anything to your child for eating till the next morning. Also, don’t forget to ask your dentist about when the child can start using mouthwash. You should wait for this until your child knows how to spit out.

Keep the Sugary Food and Drinks to a Minimum

Cavities happen to be one of the unfortunate realities that many children suffer from (40% to be precise). Parents, naturally, need to pay extra attention to assisting the kids to prevent their cavities. One of the best ways of doing this is to limit the sugary drinks and foods in the diet of your child. You should avoid giving out the sugar-filled and acidic drinks and snacks to the child which include –

1. Fruit Juice
2. Soda
3. Gummy bears
4. Certain Milk Products
5. Candy
6. Raisins

These foods encourage the growth of bacteria and eventual build-up of plaque and hence it is necessary to wash the mouth of the child properly. Added to that, you should avoid cleaning the pacifiers with your mouth and sharing the spoon with the child. The cavity-causing bacteria can be passed on from you to your kid through the saliva.

Conclusion

Apart from the above, you should also make it a point to take your child’s oral health consultation with the top dentist in Bushwick as soon as she/he is 1 year old or when her first tooth appears. And from that time onwards, visit the dentist’s clinic twice a year so that any problem lurking in the mouth of the child can be detected and treated before it is too late.

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