You have to teach your kids many things if you want them to be successful later in life. In fact, you might not be able to teach them everything that you want, but helping them with their healthy oral hygiene is definitely something to prioritize.
Chart Their Progress
Whether it’s an app or a paper chart on the kitchen fridge, keep track of how often they rinse, floss, and brush their teeth. Depending on their success throughout a week, they can get a bronze, silver, or gold start. At the end of the month, treat them to something based on how well they did.
Maintain Their Dental Appointments
The rule of thumb for most adults is to get a cleaning and screening every six months to maintain a healthy mouth and teeth. For kids, it might be more often as their mouths are still growing and teeth come and go. It is important to maintain some general dentistry to help the overall hygiene and oral health of your children’s teeth. It takes years for their adult teeth to come into place properly, and they need professional dental supervision as often as necessary for everything to come out okay. Their dentist should be someone they like and trust so they listen to them about oral hygiene.
Brush With Them
You have to brush your teeth every day, and so do they. Why not do it together? It might be a brief family activity, but there are two benefits to doing things this way. First, you see for yourself that they’re getting it done and doing it right. Second, they get to do something mommy and daddy do because they want to be like you whether they know it or not.
Know When to Start Each Habit With Them
Taking care of your kids’ teeth is crucial at every age, but they’re not going to rinse, floss, and brush on their own as infants and toddlers. Work with your dentist to know when you should start caring for their mouths and how on your own, but also learn when to teach them to do certain things on your own. Flossing is probably going to come much later than brushing. Just remember that teaching them full oral hygiene is going to take years.
Set Their Path to Success
Children that are instilled with healthy habits about their oral hygiene usually wind up keeping their habits up as adults. It’s just second nature to them, and that means they keep their mouths healthy and happy long into their adult lives.
