Written By Anita Ginsburg / Reviewed By Ray Spotts
Teeth are meant to last a lifetime. In fact, good oral health should begin even before the first tooth erupts.
Teaching your child to practice good oral hygiene from an early age is crucial for when they’re older. If you’re a new parent, you might be wondering how to do this.
Here are four steps for keeping your child’s teeth healthy.
Daily Oral Hygiene For Healthy Teeth
The first and most important step of keeping your child’s teeth healthy is to make sure they’re brushing their teeth at least twice a day. Brushing twice a day is scientifically proven to be one of the most effective ways of ensuring good oral health, if not the most important.
Get your children into the routine of brushing twice daily. A basic teeth cleaning routine is brushing once after breakfast and then again in the evening after dinner.
This is also a great way to give your child a sense of structure. Granted, there are going to be some younger children who aren’t willing to cooperate. If that’s the case, you can interest them by making teeth cleaning fun.
Note that if your child is very young and just starting to get their first teeth in, you can clean their tender gums with a moist piece of gauze.
Mouthwash is another thing that keeps your child's teeth healthy. It can kill any lingering bacteria on your teeth that wear down the enamel.
However, be careful if you're using an alcohol-based product. The alcohol within it can burn, so be sure to measure it before giving it to your child.
Drink Lots Of Water For Healthy Teeth
Never underestimate the power of water. It is one of the best things for anyone’s teeth whether they’re a child, teenager, or adult. Our mouths produce saliva which is made up of 99 percent water.
Saliva washes away leftover food particles and other bacteria from the teeth. Drinking water has the exact same effect as saliva and even helps stimulate the production of more saliva. On top of that, water contains no sugar, which is a common cause for cavities.
Serve A Healthier Diet For Healthier Teeth
Unfortunately, there are a lot of children who have less-than-ideal diets. This includes regularly eating candy and fatty foods and drinking sugary drinks like soda.
There’s nothing wrong with giving your child a sweet treat every now and then. However, if they consume too much of these things, it can spell disaster for their oral health. This includes increasing the risk of gum disease and causing cavities and tooth decay, which all warrant a trip to the dentist.
Having your child eat a healthier diet not only keeps them healthy, it can prevent dental problems from happening. While getting older children and teenagers to eat their daily dose of vegetables can be difficult, it's still important that they do. Fruits and vegetables are essential to a healthy diet as they come with an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Have Regular Dentist Appointments For Healthier Teeth
It’s recommended that children start seeing the dentist by the time they’re one year old or within six months of getting their first tooth. This is important for a couple reasons.
First, they tend to have a few teeth by this point, and getting care for them as your child grows helps keep an eye on any problems that might crop up. The dentist will advise you or your child on how to better care for their teeth if necessary. They can also keep an eye on baby teeth to help prevent speech development issues.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, starting dental appointments early helps your child get comfortable with the dentist before dental issues arise. The dentist’s office is strange, full of intimidating equipment, pointy tools, and occasionally loud noises.
These can make kids afraid of the dentist, especially if their first appointment with a dentist is to get cavities filled or to get checked for braces. If your child knows their dentist and what to expect at a dentist’s office before they have problems, they will be calmer if and when those issues arise.
Learning how to properly take care of teeth at an early age can reduce the chance of dental caries down the road. It also minimizes the need to visit the dentist while preventing unwanted oral health problems. Make sure to include proper oral hygiene into your child's daily routine as early as possible.
Looking for a 100% all-natural liquid tooth oil and mouth rinse? Check out OraMD Original Strength and OraMD Extra Strength. Subscribe to our Trusted Health Club newsletter for more information about natural living tips, natural health, oral care, skincare, body care and foot care. If you are looking for more health resources check out the Trusted Health Resources list.
Written By:
Anita Ginsburg is a freelance writer from Denver, Colo. She studied at Colorado State University, and now writes articles about health, business, family and finance. A mother of two, she enjoys traveling with her family whenever she isn't writing. You can follow her on Twitter @anitaginsburg.
Reviewed By:
Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.