Dental hygiene is the most important way to keep your teeth healthy, and the sooner you start, the better. If you teach your children to care for their teeth in their early years, they’ll be more likely to have healthy teeth in adulthood. Our family dentist can help you approach this important educational opportunity.
Taking Care of Your Child’s Teeth
From the time your child is born, you can start practicing good oral hygiene. When she’s a baby, you can clean her gums with a piece of soft gauze. This helps her get used to having something in her mouth, and helps massage the gums. When the first tooth arrives, use the gauze to clean it. You can also use a very small amount of a toothpaste specially designed for children, again to help your child get used to the basics of dental hygiene.
Ask our family dentist when he’d like you to come into the dental office for the first checkup. Some dentists like your child to visit after the first tooth arrives. Others prefer to wait until a few more teeth are present.
Ask our family dentist when he’d like you to come into the dental office for the first checkup.
Teaching Your Child to Care for Her Own Teeth
When your child is still small, you should brush her teeth for her, using a very soft brush that’s designed for a child’s teeth and mouth. As she becomes more dextrous, you can graduate to a brush she can use herself. Our family dentist can recommend specific tools that are designed for small hands. Even when your child begins to brush her own teeth, you should help by doing touch-up brushing afterwards. In time, your child will be able to maneuver the brush on her own and clean her teeth thoroughly.
Still later, you can introduce your child to flossing. Using a floss holder makes it easier for your child to maneuver the floss between her teeth. Some people use this type of floss holder into adulthood just to make flossing easier. By this time, your child should be able to take care of her own oral hygiene, keeping her teeth and gums healthy on her own.
Call our office at 817-465-0355 and set up your appointment with our caring dentist.
