A strong dental hygiene routine is crucial for kids, contributing to their overall health and the development of strong adult teeth. Your child’s baby teeth play a significant role in their life, from helping to maintain permanent space for their adult teeth to allowing your child to eat and speak properly. To keep your kid’s teeth healthy, it’s best to start dental habits early, including regular brushing and flossing, dental checkups and proper nutrition.
The Importance of Dental Hygiene for Kids
A healthy dental hygiene routine can help prevent cavities, bad breath and gum disease. Plaque can quickly build up between teeth, leading to tartar and cavities when kids don’t brush or floss. Teeth decay can cause your child pain, make it hard to chew and create problems for their adult teeth. Make sure your child flosses once a day and brushes twice a day for two minutes each with fluoride toothpaste.
Here are the primary benefits of a proper teeth-cleaning routine:
- Reduces the risk of gum disease
- Prevents bad breath
- Reduces the risk of cavities
- Improves your child’s overall health
- Enhances your child’s smile
Taking care of baby teeth through brushing and flossing can set your child up for a healthy future smile. It can also prevent physical health complications linked to gum disease, including heart disease, diabetes and respiratory disease. While these health risks for children are low, good dental habits established at a young age will lay the foundation for your child’s overall outlook on oral health and its connection to systemic health.
5 Tips for Improving Your Child’s Dental Health
Various habits can promote good dental health for your child, such as eating a nutritious diet, getting regular dental checkups and following an effective teeth cleaning routine. Here’s how to encourage good dental health for your child:
1. Brush and Floss Effectively
As your child grows, help them brush their teeth until they develop good brushing skills. If they are younger than 6 years old, watch them brush to make sure they do so effectively. Here are some proper brushing techniques to prevent cavities:
- Use a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste.
- Brush gently across the upper and lower parts of all teeth.
- Brush slowly to ensure you do not miss any teeth.
- Brush harder around the gum line to target plaque and food debris.
- Brush the tongue to prevent plaque buildup.
When choosing a toothbrush, look for one that has soft bristles that will clean your child’s teeth well enough without being rough on their gums. Be sure to replace it every three months or when the bristles start to fray to prevent bacteria from building up on it.
2. Rinse After Eating
While kids should only brush twice a day rather than after meals, make sure they rinse their mouths each time they eat. This helps clear food and bacteria from the mouth while stimulating saliva production — critical in restoring tooth minerals to strengthen them. Older kids might chew sugar-free gum to stimulate saliva production, strengthen the jaw and balance acid that often leads to tooth decay.
3. Avoid Sugary Meals and Drinks
Sugar is damaging to teeth. For children, it’s especially important to protect teeth from bacteria caused by sugar and starches. When bacteria builds up, it leaves an acid that can destroy tooth enamel and cause cavities. Make sure your child eats limits these foods:
- Candy, especially sticky candies like gummies
- Sugary juices, sodas and certain sports drinks
- Sugary snacks like cotton candy
- Certain carbohydrates like chips and white bread
Note that even some juices contain a lot of sugar. Be mindful about what your child eats, and check food labels for sugar content.
4. Eat Nutritious Foods
Some foods naturally promote healthier teeth in children. Try to incorporate the following foods into your child’s diet to strengthen their teeth and gums:
- Fiber-rich veggies like celery, carrot sticks, snap peas, green beans and broccoli
- Foods high in vitamins A, C and D, like poultry, fish, beef, eggs, tofu and beans
- Fruits like oranges, limes, kiwis, strawberries, papaya and cantaloupe
- Dairy products like cheese, milk and plain yogurt
- Foods with fluoride, like powdered juices and dehydrated soups
The above foods help keep the teeth and gums clean while getting saliva flowing, strengthening their defense against cavities and gum disease. They can also help restore minerals to areas of teeth that have lost them due to bacterial acids.
5. Get Regular Dental Checkups
Your child should visit their dentist every six months for routine cleanings and checkups. Regular cleanings help remove plaque buildup, prevent cavities and promote healthy teeth. During checkups, your family dentist will also take X-rays to determine if there are any developing issues. If caught in the early stages, they can be treated to prevent lasting or severe issues. Dentists can also provide oral hygiene tips to keep your child’s teeth healthy.
It’s important to see a dentist if you notice the following signs of unhealthy teeth or gums in your child:
- Red or swollen gums
- Bleeding gums
- Bad breath
- Excess saliva
- Receding gum line
You’ll know if your child’s teeth are healthy if they are bright and white, smooth and intact and have no discoloration or spots.
How to Encourage Better Dental Habits in Your Child
Many children can be reluctant to follow healthier dental habits, like staying away from sugary foods. However, a few strategies can help you encourage them to stick to a routine while having fun in the process:
- Read fun books or videos that discuss dental hygiene.
- Have fun while picking out a toothbrush, encouraging them to choose their own.
- Have your child choose a toothpaste flavor they enjoy.
- Play a funny two-minute song as your child brushes their teeth.
- Provide rewards when your child practices good brushing and flossing habits, such as going on a fun outing.
- Plan a fun activity following your child’s dentist visit so they have something to look forward to.
By making oral hygiene fun, you can encourage your child to take better care of their teeth and continue healthy habits into adulthood.
Visit Boise Family Dental Care for Family-Friendly Dental Support
As a parent, it’s critical to care for your child’s teeth and promote healthy oral habits from a young age. Oral hygiene for kids starts with proper brushing and flossing, eating a nutritious diet and getting regular checkups to keep their teeth healthy now and over the course of life.
At Boise Family Dental Care, we believe having overall oral health strongly impacts a child’s well-being, and we strongly impacts a child’s overall well-being, and we will work with your child to come up with a fun dental hygiene routine to promote healthier teeth. Our office tries to schedule family appointments to see multiple people together, helping you simplify a busy routine. We understand how nervous kids can be about visiting the dentist, and that’s why we take special care to ensure even our littlest patients have a comfortable experience.
Appreciate family-friendly dental support for your child’s needs. We invite you to contact our office today and schedule your child’s appointment!
