Saskatoon Dental Group is a locally owned, full-scale Saskatoon dental clinic offering general dentistry services. At Saskatoon Dental Group, we are dedicated to offering excellent care to our amazing patients who are like family to us. We are grateful to treat whole families in Saskatoon across multiple generations, and have a multicultural team speaking multiple languages. In our latest dental tip we discuss tips for children’s tooth brushing.
Tooth Brushing Tears To Cheers:
Tips For Children’s Tooth Brushing
Tooth brushing is a necessary life habit that should be developed at an early age. Instilling a proper tooth brushing routine in young children can be a challenge. If daily tooth brushing is a struggle in your household, consider the following children’s tooth brushing tips to help turn those tears into cheers.
Play Music During Children’s Tooth Brushing Time
Make tooth brushing time something to look forward to! Put on your child’s favourite song for them to dance to while brushing their teeth. Playing music during tooth brushing time will make it more enjoyable for your child and easier for you to reinforce the healthy habit.
Offer Your Children Rewards For Good Tooth Brushing
Offering rewards will reinforce tooth brushing habits. If stickers motivate your child, consider a reward chart and let your child add a sticker each time they brush. High-fives or extra bedtime stories also make great rewards. Rewarding good brushing behaviour is useful in developing a consistent routine.
Read Books Or Watch Shows About Tooth Brushing
Reading books or watching shows about tooth brushing will help your child to understand why a good oral health routine is so important. Many children’s books and shows such as Sesame Street have tooth brushing stories. Sharing these with your child allows you to use the characters as good examples when encouraging proper tooth brushing.
Allow Your Child To Choose Their Own Tooth Brush
Go shopping and allow your child to select their own toothbrush at the store. Allowing your child to choose their own toothbrush will make them more enthusiastic about brushing, and will provide them a sense of ownership. As well, allowing them to choose a flavour of toothpaste that they enjoy will make them more inclined to want to brush their teeth.
Brush Your Teeth With Your Children
Consider brushing your teeth at the same time as your children. There is always room at the sink, and this will help you encourage proper brushing. Brushing your teeth at the same time as your children reinforces the routine as children will copy the behaviours of a parent or older sibling. Particularly before bedtime, spending that tooth brushing time with your children is valuable for their routine.
Following these tips will build good oral health habits and help make tooth brushing fun for your children.
Remember that good oral health habits start at home and we encourage you to visit us once a year for a full checkup and examination. Oral health is closely tied to your overall health and wellness and often we can identify issues before they become problems.
We are always welcoming patients looking for a new dental family. If you would like to book a checkup or if you have any dental questions please do not hesitate to reach out to our team.
See you soon!
The Saskatoon Dental Group Team