If you are worried that your kids are growing up without the guidance that they need to stay healthy and have great oral hygiene, there are many ways that you can teach your kids the basics. This will help them to grow up with the right healthy habits in place. With this fresh in your mind, here are some of the top tips that you can follow to teach kids about great oral hygiene.
Take Them to a Dentist
One of the best ways that you can prevent your child from being scared of the dentist or avoiding the dentist throughout their lives is to take them to a dentist at somewhere like The Kids’ Dental Office of Phoenix (which you can learn more about here) when they are still very young. However, to ensure that they have a good experience, this should not be any old dentist. Instead, it would be best if you looked around for dentists that prioritize family health and who are experts at providing care for children who might be nervous about their first dentist’s visit. For instance, at bafdentistry.com, they specialize in family and pediatric health and will be able to check your child’s teeth regularly, educate them on looking after their teeth, and ensure that they do not encounter many of the most common childhood dental issues. It would help if you spoke to them long before your child is experiencing issues with their teeth.
Look at Apps
There are many apps that can teach your children how to stay healthy and look after their teeth. These tooth-brushing apps can show them how to brush their teeth well in an exciting way, can time their brushing sessions, and can give them fun activities that can make the experience more fun for them. For instance, they might be able to play songs that engage your child and make brushing their teeth an exciting and fun activity, rather than a chore they would rather avoid. In this case, you should look at many of the free apps that are tailored for children on mobile app stores, many of which are produced by large companies and allow your children to interact with characters from their favorite movies.
Find Activity Booklets
Although you should not make your child feel like they are in school when they are learning how to care for their health, there are many activity booklets that you can download online. These activity booklets are filled with fun activities for your child to enjoy that can help them to learn about health and hygiene without even realizing it. For instance, they might have coloring activities, quizzes, or games that have a lesson contained within them. When your child finishes this activity book, they will know much more about how to look after their bodies and teeth.
Show Them
However, the quickest and easiest way to teach your kids good oral hygiene is to show them how to look after their teeth yourself. You can get them to watch what you are doing and explain your actions while you do this. You might also help them brush their teeth until they know exactly what to do to care for their gums and teeth. You should try and supervise this brushing until they are at least six or so years old to make sure that they are doing it right and to ensure that they brush their teeth thoroughly. This will ensure that they carry on brushing their teeth and looking after their health for a long time to come.
Find Books About Dental Hygiene
You can find a book on almost every topic imaginable, and these can be a great resource when teaching your kids how to care for their teeth. There are many books out there that have been written to help kids understand dental hygiene in a fun way, and these can be read over and over again to your kids- or even as a bedtime story. Not only this, but you might be able to find books about visits to dental surgeries that can ease your kids’ fears about visiting the dentist and help them be brave and reassure them when they need dental treatments.
Consider Soft Toys and Dolls
Soft toys and plushies may also come in handy when teaching your children about dental health. Buying them a soft toy shaped like a tooth might help them to want to look after their teeth and will help them to understand the concept of brushing their teeth more. You might also encourage them to take their new squishy buddy into the bathroom with them when they brush their teeth so that they can enjoy a bit of company as they perform the act. You might also consider investing in dolls, and you can find many dolls with braces or that come with dental offices and dental hygiene sets on the market. By caring for their dolls and their teeth, your child is more likely to look after their own and to think that caring for their teeth is a cool activity to do. You might even use these toys to get them to understand good brushing techniques. Finding something your child can interact with is more likely to have a positive effect.
Play Games
It would be best if you also considered finding games to play while brushing their teeth, which can make the activity less boring and teach them how to care for their teeth well. You might also be able to play tooth and dental-themed games that can teach them about good oral hygiene and have been designed to help children understand the need to care for their teeth throughout their lives.
Then, if you are struggling to teach your kids about dental hygiene, there are many steps that you can take to do this, from finding activity books and reading them stories to showing them how best to care for their teeth. By doing this, you will be able to ensure that you do not have to take them to the nearest dental surgery every few months.
