Five Dental Hygiene Tips for Your Child during This Fall
The temperatures are losing steam as the fall approaches to encourage children to spend more time outdoors than in the summer. Furthermore, fall is when children look forward to having fun during Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas besides other playful activities while neglecting dental hygiene as they usually do.
Seasonal changes occur every year and so do problems with dental health that seemingly rise because of the abundance of sugary and starchy foods available to enjoy in the second half of the year. The fall is also when your children must take appropriate care of their dental hygiene routine to ensure they don’t fall prey during the fall to dental issues causing them pain and discomfort. Therefore as a parent, you are responsible for ensuring they follow the five essential dental hygiene tips during the fall to prevent untoward incidents that harm their oral health.
This article provides a list of five tips essential to maintain oral hygiene throughout the year but gain added importance during this season.
Children’s Dental Hygiene Tips for the Fall
Here are the five essential tips for children to follow during the fall.
- Feed Children Healthy Foods
With festivals approaching fast, you will know that children will have a free-for-all during the fall to enjoy all sorts of unhealthy snacks and beverages. Under the circumstances, wouldn’t you think you would benefit by ensuring your child’s teeth are not feeding sugars and carbohydrates to mouth bacteria to create dental issues like tooth decay and cavities? If you do, try to swap refined carbohydrates from their diet and add healthy fruits and vegetables to give their teeth the essential vitamins and minerals to strengthen them. If your child insists on having sweetened foods, substitute them with healthy snacks or juices derived from actual fruit.
- Maintain a Schedule of Brushing and Flossing
Merely feeding children healthy foods does not prove beneficial unless you also get them to maintain brushing and flossing schedules. In addition, cleaning the mouth and teeth is essential to maintaining appropriate oral hygiene. Depending on the child’s age, you can use the following techniques for cleaning children’s teeth.
If your child is without teeth, use a soft washcloth to clean their gums after every feeding. Please continue with the practice until their first tooth erupts, and the children’s dentist in elk grove, CA, recommends using rice grain-sized fluoride toothpaste and a toothbrush with soft bristles to clean their teeth.
After three years, your child benefits by receiving a pea-sized grain of toothpaste to brush their teeth so long as you supervise them and participate in the activity to be a role model. Ensure that your child cleans their teeth in the morning and just before getting into bed at night.
Flossing their teeth is also essential to remove food particles and plaque on and between them. Dental plaque is the primary reason for causing tooth decay and gum disease and is best prevented before the condition develops.
- Replacing Toothbrushes Frequently
Do not consider children’s toothbrushes tools don’t require replacement until their permanent teeth erupt. Children can damage toothbrushes faster than adults by gnawing on them when brushing. Therefore the dental hygiene tool requires replacement every three months or sooner if the bristles start fraying.
- Do Not Forget Scheduling Dental Visits
Visiting the dentist in elk grove for six monthly appointments is also essential to keep your child’s teeth in optimal health. Getting your child the exams and cleanings help prevent issues with their teeth in the early stages when reversing tooth decay is comfortable by getting them fluoride treatments and dental sealants. If left untreated, tooth decay progresses to severe conditions needing intensive therapies to make you vulnerable to considerable expenditure.
- Prevent Dental Emergencies
The joyous season is when your child can develop a cracked or chipped tooth biting on hard candy and other foods. Unfortunately, they might also incur damage to their mouth from playful activities to need treatments from an emergency dentist. To prevent dental emergencies, limit children from having unsavory foods that might damage their teeth and invest in protective devices like mouthguards to avoid accidental damage to children’s teeth and the soft tissues of their mouth.
Do not expect children to adhere to your instructions because they can find sneaky ways to get around them. Therefore, continue supervising your child throughout the year to ensure they maintain optimal dental health.
Laguna Dental & Orthodontics suggests that the five tips mentioned in this article are optimal for your child’s teeth during this fall. If you need further information, kindly schedule an appointment for your child with them today to confirm you have all the particulars you need to care for your child’s teeth.