Five Ways to Encourage Your Child’s Dental Hygiene

Encouraging your son or daughter to take charge of a dental hygiene routine can be challenging, but it isn’t impossible. Here are some ways to make sure you’re doing your part.

1) Explain Why

Kids often dislike doing a task when they don’t understand why it’s important. By explaining why it’s important to brush teeth thoroughly morning and night, you might take some of the mystery out of the whole chore.

2) Talk to Your Child’s Dentist

Some children are afraid of all things oral-hygiene, from toothbrushes to dentists. By making sure your child’s dentist understands your child’s fears and is prepared to do everything possible to make dental checkups and cleanings as pleasant as possible, you can remove some of the anxiety your child might feel about his oral health.

3) Be a Good Example

Children tend to take after their examples. By not only teaching your child the importance of good dental hygiene habits, but modeling them yourself, you will show your child that taking care of your teeth is important for kids and grown-ups alike.

4) Provide Fun and Easy-to-Use Tools

Little ones are still developing coordination. For many children, taking care of their teeth is unpleasant and awkward because they’re not used to performing tasks like flossing and brushing. It may take some time for tooth-brushing to become second nature, but a parent can help that process along by providing properly-sized tooth brushes, perhaps with favorite action figures or characters, as well as tooth paste that has a pleasant smell and taste.

5) Set Realistic Expectations

It’s natural to expect a lot from children, but be sure that you set realistic expectations for how your child should progress with his or her dental hygiene routine. After some time, having a clean mouth should become a pleasant reality your child will seek out for himself; but, until then, understand that we all went through a similar phase as a kid.

A parent can do great deal to encourage children to take care of their teeth by explaining why dental hygiene is important, communicating with their dentist, teaching by example, providing proper tools, and knowing how much to expect of a child based on age and maturity level. By taking time to review how you’ve encouraged your little one to develop good dental hygiene habits, you can encourage her to   view her teeth in a whole new way.