It is impossible to rule out the importance of having a dentist near you. You have someone that you can run to in case of any dental emergency especially with your kids.
Unlike adults, it is harder for children to consciously monitor their dental health and ensure healthy teeth and gums. It means that the health of a child’s teeth and hums rests in the parents’ hands on a larger scale.
You can teach a child how to brush, but how would you know if the child is brushing well? It is encouraged that when children begin to reach a certain stage, parents should allow them to brush for themselves. However, you need to monitor your children’s brushing closely.
Apart from brushing, it is important that as a parent, you teach your children how you maintain good oral hygiene at all times. Keeping healthy teeth as kids will help them later in the future when they become adults.
If you do not see to it that your children observe good dental hygiene, you might be putting the child at risk of dental problems like gingivitis, tooth decay, and so on. To avoid this, oral hygiene and a constant visit to the dentist’s office will be very helpful. Your dentist will provide you with tops for healthy teeth and gums that you and your child can practice at home. The dentist will also help you and your child run a professional check-up and cleaning of your teeth.
To ensure healthy teeth and gums for your kids, here are some techniques that you will find very helpful;
- Find a dental home for your kid: Most parents take their children to their family doctor for dental-related issues. However, in the child’s best interest, you should register your kid in a dental home. Find a dentist who knows how to relate well with children. You will find many kids-friendly dentists in Temecula if you do not know where to register your child. Kids’ dentists are very skilled at making sure that both their patients and their patients’ parents are comfortable.
They will also make sure that they earn the child’s trust so that when next you bring the child, the child will be used to the dentist.
Visiting a kids’ doctor is always an exciting experience. You get to share the kid’s health history and the dentist in return will offer you health tips that will be very helpful. - Do not use feeding bottles at night: Many parents use feeding bottles to put a child to sleep at night. If you have been doing that, you should put an end to it. Why? When you leave a bottle of milk in a child’s mouth at night, the bacteria in the mouth will react with the sugar in the milk and multiply. The bacteria will then spread to the rest of the teeth and can lead to several dental problems. Remove the bottle from the baby’s mouth before sleeping and clean with water. If you must use a bottle to put the baby to sleep, fill the bottle with water instead of milk.
- Take the pacifier away: Pacifiers easily get dirty. Bacteria can stay on the surface and easily enter the child’s body from the mouth. To keep the pacifier clean, clean it with boiling water for a few minutes or rinsing it with running water. Also, do not put a pacifier in sugar or any sugary liquid. It allows sugar to form in the pacifier which can be harmful to your child.
- Brush at least twice daily: This is the most common oral hygiene practice. As soon as you spot a child’s teeth coming out, begin to clean the teeth with warm water or toothpaste that does not contain fluoride. As the child grows up, you can begin to use small fluoride toothpaste and also teach the child how to brush properly.
- Floss once daily: The use of floss to remove any leftover food item in the mouth helps prevent the decay of food items, which usually leads to tooth decay. Flossing also helps to clean the teeth more than a brush will. The dentist will teach you how to use floss for your child.
Making sure that your child has healthy teeth and gums requires simple processes and you will not need to spend a fortune. You can make sure that your children have strong teeth when they become adults, all you have to do is follow these simple steps.