How To Raise Your Kids To Have Good Oral Hygiene Habits

If you are a parent, you probably are extremely familiar with how difficult it can be to get your child to agree to brush their teeth. It seems that every single night and every single morning there is a whole song and dance that must take place before your child will finally take a minute or two to take care of their teeth. The good news is that this is an uphill battle that nearly every parent has to deal with and luckily, your local dentist can help you to improve the situation as a whole. In this post, we are going to try and teach you how to help your child to have the very best oral hygiene habits so that they can have a healthy smile from now on.

Create A Dental Schedule For Your Kids

One of the best ways to ensure that your child is able to practice long-term dental health is knowing how often you should be taking your child to see their dentist. As their parent, it is your job to know when the right timing for a dental appointment is. Here are a few milestones you might reach that will require you to bring your child to the dentist:

  • Pre-teeth dental care: During the first six months of your child’s life, their teeth are developing beneath their visible gums. If you want to make sure that your child’s teeth are going well when you can’t even see them yet, you can do so by ensuring they are eating a healthy diet.
  • Their first teeth: When your child’s teeth do begin to break through the gums and come in, you should visit a pediatric dentist for a screening so that you can ensure everything is going as it should. For the most part, children’s teeth begin to come in when they are about six months old, with permanent teeth beginning to come in when they are around six years old. Once this happens, children should begin seeing their dentist at least two times per year.
  • Their permanent teeth: From the ages of 6-11, children will begin to lose their baby teeth and acquire their permanent teeth. Your child should continue to see their dentist twice a year at the very least.

Teach Them What Good Dental Habits Are

There are many ways you can help your child to get excited about taking care of their teeth and gums. Below are just a couple of ways we have seen other parents find success.

  • Share educational TV shows and books with your kid. There is plenty of content out there that revolves around the importance of dental hygiene, especially when it comes to children. This will help your child to associate oral health with things they already love to do.
  • Make a dental chart for your home. If you want to make sure your kiddo knows all of the important steps they have to complete in order to make their smile healthy, you can make a chart that outlines each task. This way they can follow the chart until they know the process forwards and backward.
  • Lead by example. If you want your child to have good oral health hygiene, you’re going to need to model what that is for them. Your child takes your actions as cues for how they should be acting at every turn, including how often and how well you are caring for your smile.

Are you having a hard time getting your child to take their oral health seriously? For more information about how to help your child with their oral health habits, contact us at Corsi Dental Associates in Woodbury today!

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