Good oral hygiene refers to maintaining clean teeth and mouth all day long. Proper or correct oral hygiene habits are critical in maintaining overall dental health, a vital aspect of life. Having your children embrace these healthy oral habits early for good oral health is essential as they embrace and use these practices throughout their lives.

Children are as vulnerable to dental concerns that compromise their health as adults. Nevertheless, when your children observe proper dental hygiene, the risk of tooth loss, decay or cavities is significantly reduced. Additionally, clean teeth give your children aesthetically appealing teeth, keeping them well-groomed. If you want children to have a robust oral routine, you must be willing to teach them proper dental hygiene practices. However, it is not easy to teach children, as they can be resistant. So, it would help if you found a fun way of teaching and encouraging them to make proper dental hygiene part of their routine.

Proper or Suitable Oral Hygiene Practices to Impart Your Children

For children to maintain healthy oral habits, you must impart them with good dental hygiene practices. The habits or practices you should teach them are:

Teeth Brushing

Dentists recommend brushing your teeth twice daily for no more than two minutes, primarily after meals. It would help if you introduced teeth brushing to your children immediately after teeth begin to erupt. You can teach even an infant oral hygiene by cleaning their gums with a wet cloth after breastfeeding. The infant will not understand what you are doing, but it is a step towards creating a routine the child will embrace as they age.

You can introduce a rubber finger brush when the infant feeds on solid food. The advantage of this brush is that it has soft bristles and cannot hurt the infant's gums. You use the rubber brush by wearing it on your index finger. If the teeth erupt, gently rub the brush on the soft tissue and teeth to clean the mouth.

The most appropriate time to start brushing your child's teeth is when the first tooth erupts. If the tap water you use in your home is fluoridated, you do not need toothpaste for brushing until the infant turns one and a half years old. Nevertheless, when you lack access to this kind of water, you should use an adult toothbrush immediately after the child's first birthday. Also, during this period, the child should visit a pediatric dentist for an examination. 

You must understand that brushing or cleaning teeth is a proficiency that one must learn and exercise to remove food debris and plaque for a clean mouth. Therefore, you must teach your child how to brush their teeth. The best tips for doing it are:

  • Show the child how to hold the brush at a 45-degree angle against the soft tissue or gums.
  • Demonstrate to the child how to move the brush in small strokes.
  • Show the child how to clean the teeth on the inner, external, and chewing surfaces.
  • Demonstrate to the child how to brush the gums.
  • Show them how to hold the brush vertically when cleaning the inner surface of the anterior teeth.

Once you have demonstrated to the children the steps to follow when brushing, you should let them do it step by step. They should practice these steps for two minutes to ensure the mouth is completely clean and no food particles or plaque remain. Two minutes are sufficient to remove all the debris from the mouth.

Also, do not forget to mention to the children that they must brush the tongue, as it is part of the mouth. Removing plaque and debris by brushing helps prevent bacteria buildup in the mouth, preventing oral infections and illnesses. However, cleaning the teeth and leaving the tongue untouched will be in vain, as they accumulate bacteria. Many overlook the tongue because it is not at risk of developing cavities or decay. Nevertheless, they forget that an unclean tongue causes mouth odor, and the accumulated bacteria can spread to the gums and teeth, causing the same oral issues as someone who does not brush.

Therefore, you should mention to the children that cleaning the tongue after brushing their teeth is part of the cleaning. Skipping the tongue is the same as not brushing because the germs in the tongue will spread to other parts of the mouth. Emphasis is placed on the need for tongue brushing and the steps involved.

Once your child understands how to hold the brush properly, you should let them clean, facing a mirror to see what they are doing. However, this does not mean they should brush without your supervision. You should be present when they clean to remind them of the steps they forgot. Besides, they have yet to master the skills and will not brush effectively without guidance.

However, with your presence, you can ensure they do it effectively. As they develop, the more they master the skill, the less you will need to be present for them to brush effectively. If you do not teach the child teeth brushing skills early, teaching them the skill later in life will be challenging, and this could adversely affect their oral hygiene and health.

Teaching children to brush effectively involves using the appropriate devices or tools. Ensure that the brushes and toothpaste the children use are child-friendly. Allow the children to pick the brushes of their choice, although you must ensure they are child-sized.

Lastly, allow your children to watch brushing videos to learn various techniques. They will replicate what they see in these videos. Again, you can brush together or practice on each other to make it more fun. If you make teeth brushing a bonding activity, your children will embrace and be enthusiastic about it, promoting good oral health.

Daily Flossing

Brushing and flossing are vital to maintaining good oral health. Nevertheless, brushing alone is insufficient to remove all debris and plaque in the mouth. It is only a first defense line against bad breath, decay, and periodontitis. Therefore, on top of brushing, you must show your children how to floss their teeth daily to remove debris in areas the brush cannot reach.

If you introduce daily flossing to the children early, they will embrace the habit and maintain it even as they develop, promoting excellent oral hygiene. Teaching children new practices can be challenging. Therefore, when you find it difficult to train the children, adopt a reward system or floss their mouths together. Also, you can let them choose the floss to encourage them to floss their teeth daily or regularly.

Regular Dental Visits

Another way to educate your children about healthy oral hygiene practices is through regular dental visits. Your children should begin visiting a pediatric dentist as early as one year. These early checkups help identify and address dental issues before they become severe. Even if your children have no complaints or symptoms of dental conditions, dentists recommend a minimum of two visits to the dental office annually.

Many parents assume their children will lose their baby teeth soon, eliminating the need to see the dentist for evaluation. However, the parents forget that the child's oral needs begin when the first tooth erupts, and early dental complications can affect their permanent teeth. The common reasons to teach your children to visit the dentist biannually for examinations are:

  • Regular checkups help the dentist identify decay and cavities early. Tooth decay is prevalent among children, and the best way to prevent the condition is through proper teeth cleaning and frequent dental checkups.
  • Regular examinations help identify and arrest early malocclusion. Baby teeth are the basis for the growth of permanent ones. Therefore, when you focus on the health of these teeth, your children will be assured of appropriate permanent tooth spacing and placement. Nevertheless, when you ignore the health of baby teeth, the permanent ones could have spacing issues and malocclusion. If the pediatric dental expert discovers misalignment of the baby teeth, they can begin to correct the problem early and prevent permanent tooth.
  • Enforcing frequent dental examinations can assist in maintaining ideal oral health. Teeth brushing and flossing will not remove tartar in the mouth. However, at least two yearly teeth cleanings and examination visits will remove the grooves in areas difficult to reach with the brush, keeping the entire dental system clean.
  • A pediatric dentist will educate the children on the role of a healthy diet in maintaining healthy teeth. Telling your children to stop eating candy and sugary substances can fall on deaf ears. However, when the dentist does it and demonstrates the effects of these harmful food substances, the children are likely to listen and make diet adjustments.

Techniques for Teaching Children Appropriate Oral Hygiene Practices

Children can be resistant to learning, making teaching appropriate oral hygiene challenging. No matter how daunting the task is, you must help them embrace healthy practices. The pointers to help you train the children include:

  1. Begin Early

Start teaching your children how to maintain healthy teeth and mouths when the first teeth erupt. Starting early makes it easy to embrace the habit and make it a routine. And when they are old enough to understand the brushing steps, you can explain how to do it without supervision.

  1. Establish a Reward System for Consistency

Children can be highly motivated by rewards. Therefore, please find a way to reward the children when they consistently brush and floss their teeth. You can buy them their favorite brush, toothpaste, or floss or treat them to a fun day out. Good oral hygiene habits will become part of their routine if you do this.

  1. Find an Experienced Pediatric Dentist

Another crucial tip for educating your children on excellent oral hygiene is finding an experienced pediatric dentist. A professional dental expert will make dental visits comfortable and fun for the children, eliminating the dread of dental clinics, which is crucial in ensuring regular dental visits.

  1. Supervise the Brushing

Children love playing and will likely spend little time brushing before proceeding to their next activity. Therefore, supervise them as they brush and ensure they do it for two minutes to remove all the debris from the teeth and gingiva tissue. You can even set a clock to avoid constant supervision.

You can simplify the learning process further by leading by example. Excellent dental hygiene starts with you. If your children see your oral hygiene routine, they are likely to follow your example or mimic you, which is an excellent way of teaching.

Benefits of Good Dental Hygiene Practices in Children

Oral issues can cause your children severe complications in their childhood or as they grow older. So, teaching them good dental hygiene practices can lower the risk of these complications and promote excellent dental health.

Your child's dental hygiene is vital to their overall well-being. If your child has poor oral hygiene, it will reflect on their growth. Oral illnesses like cavities and decay will affect the child's feeding habits, speech, and aesthetics. A flawed smile will result in low self-esteem and social anxiety. Most children with dental issues are underweight and find it difficult to adapt to social situations. With suitable oral hygiene, your children will avoid all these health complications.

Other benefits of appropriate oral hygiene habits are:

  • It results in high cognitive development as the child never misses school because of dental emergencies.
  • It helps prevent severe dental complications. Regular checkups help dentists identify issues early and correct them before advancement.
  • It prevents psychological implications for children and teenagers. Children with decayed teeth or malocclusion rarely interact with others because of low self-esteem, and this could push them into depression. However, when their teeth are healthy, the risk of these psychological issues is minimal because of the flawless smile that gives them the confidence to interact.

Several reasons exist as to why you should teach your children correct oral hygiene habits. Therefore, train them and ensure they incorporate these practices into their routine.

Find a Competent Dental Expert Near Me

When children start walking, they develop an interest in learning other skills, making it the most appropriate time to begin training them in good oral hygiene habits, a crucial skill they will need to grow. The earlier they understand the practices, the more likely they are to avoid oral complications. To learn more about oral hygiene in children or for a consultation, La Puente Advanced Dentistry can help. Call us at 626-626-7075 to schedule an appointment.