How to Maintain Dental Health in Children?
Dental health in children depends on many factors. Parents should take care of a child’s teeth as soon as they begin to erupt. But there are still a lot of questions about the proper dental hygiene for kids and visits to the dentist’s office. In this article, we will tell you how to maintain dental health in children.
The use of a toothpaste with fluoride
Despite the fact that kid’s toothpaste is considered harmless, there is a possibility that your child will swallow it. Taking into account that most brands of kids’ toothpaste add fluoride to them, make sure that your children don’t consume too much fluoride. To stay on the safe side, it is better to brush the child’s teeth with a small amount of toothpaste until your kid is about two years old.
After your child is two years old, you can take a pea-sized piece of toothpaste. Moreover, it is better to teach your child how to split the toothpaste as early as you can. You can look for a toothpaste that doesn’t contain fluoride, but most dentists claim that fluoride plays an essential role while teeth are developing.
The proper time to visit the pediatric dentist
There is no strict rule about the first visit to the dentist’s office. But it is recommended to take your kid to the dentist’s office when the first tooth starts to erupt. But the American Academy of Pediatrics claimed that you can postpone the first visit to the dentist’s office if there are no predispositions to oral diseases. Despite this fact, they also suggest that visits to the dentist’s office at an early age can positively affect the kid’s dental health.
A pediatric dentist in Brooklyn can help you maintain the oral hygiene of your child, tell you how to properly clean the kid’s teeth and wean a baby from a bottle at night. If your child has some problems with oral health, it is better to see the dentist as soon as possible.
The importance of fluoride intake
Fluoride is a very important mineral that is very crucial for teeth and bone growth in children. Kids usually need extra fluoride at the age of six months. You can provide your child with fluoride by giving him or her tap water to drink (if your tap water is fluoridated). If your child doesn’t like to drink tap water, you can mix it with juice or food fusion for kids. Regular bottled water usually doesn’t contain fluoride so it is better to look for fluoridated water (some brands indicate that water is fluoridated on the label).
Most water filters remove fluoride out of the eater. That’s why it is important to choose water filters like the pitcher type filters and countertop filters that usually don’t remove fluoride. You can also ask your pediatric dentists about fluoride supplements that would provide your child with the needed minerals.
Teeth sealants can be performed in school-age children. Teeth sealant is a plastic material that the dentist applies to the child’s teeth in order to prevent plaque formation. The sealant is usually applied at the permanent molars to close teeth’ grooves and fossae that could be difficult to clean. Sealants are usually performed after the eruption of permanent molars in order to protect them from tooth decay.
Proper dental hygiene
Maintaining good oral health is impossible without proper dental hygiene and flossing is a very important part of it. The proper time to start flossing your kid’s teeth is when they start to touch each other. After the age of 10, children are usually able to floss without parents’ help.
It is very important to teach your child how to brush his or her teeth and floss. But you should also be an example for your children by maintaining a healthy diet and visiting the dentist’s office on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter how thoroughly you teach your kid to floss and brush the teeth because it wouldn’t bring any positive results if you don’t maintain proper dental hygiene yourself.