Having a healthy mouth is of paramount importance, so ensuring that your child’s teeth are cared for properly from the beginning will benefit them in the future. However, for most children, brushing their teeth is not the most exciting part of their daily routine, so how can you help your child improve their oral hygiene, without losing their attention?

Fortunately, we have accumulated some top tips for just this, so let’s take a closer look, below.

Make Trips To The Dentist A Positive Experience

If we are told from a young age that trips to the dentist are not scary and are in fact a positive experience, then we are more likely to attend regular appointments at dentists such as Smile Cliniq. Therefore, from as early as a baby, take your child to the dentist when you go for your appointment so they can get used to the smells and noises surrounding them.

If you take them regularly, not only will they feel more comfortable, but the dentist can also check their mouths to ensure everything is developing correctly.

As your child gets older, you can reward them for going to the dentist and behaving well by giving them a sticker or taking them to the cinema afterwards as a reward. This will reinforce that the experience was a positive one.

Little To None Sugar

We all know that too much sugar isn’t good for our health and in particular our teeth, as it can lead to dental decay. With a number of popular foods and drinks containing high levels of sugar, this top tip can be difficult to stick to.  

However, if you cut out sugar or at least only allow them to eat a minimal amount, you will be hugely benefiting your child’s oral health. Instead, you should offer them drinks such as water and milk as alternatives.

Turn On A Timer

We are supposed to brush our teeth for two minutes in the morning and then the same amount of time in the evening, so why not help you and your children to stick to this by setting a timer. You can make these two minutes more enjoyable for your children by splitting it up into quarters.

For each 30 seconds they can clean a different part of their mouth; top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left. This way your child won’t get bored during the time and you can ensure that they are brushing all of their teeth.

Start Brushing Early

You might as well introduce your child to the sensation of brushing as soon as possible. So when their first tooth comes through you can gently brush their tooth and show them how to do it. You may want to start by just using your finger, but as more teeth come through you can move onto more age appropriate brushes.

Although they won’t be very old, it is great for your child to start feeling something on their teeth and gums. What’s more, is that formula milk and even breast milk contain sugar, so by brushing their baby teeth you are in fact preventing them from decay very early on.

Make It Fun For Your Child

Once your child is over the age of three you can give them an electric toothbrush to make the routine exciting and far more beneficial. With these brushes getting rid of plaque and excess food particles quicker and more effectively than normal toothbrushes, your child’s teeth will be getting the best clean from a very early stage.

Electric toothbrushes come in a number of different colours, shapes and some even glow in the dark and light up, so your child can choose the one that they like the most and let the fun of brushing begin.

Hopefully these top tips have given you some ideas to help make brushing teeth more fun for your children. By cleaning their teeth well at an early age and getting them used to brushing for 2 minutes twice daily, they will have healthier teeth for longer.