Cavities are the pits! (Literally!) Draining on kids and your wallet, if you prepare you can avoid these mouth mistakes. Take control of your child’s dental hygiene, and you’ll both be all smiles.
Don’t Give Your Child the Brush-Off
A pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste twice a day goes a long way in preventing cavities. But how do you get your child to brush twice a day? Start by shopping together for a fun toothbrush. Let your child choose it, and invent stories about how the new toothbrush LOVES to brush teeth. Let the sillies take over during brushing sessions. Brush in lots of directions and have your child copy you. Make faces in the mirror afterwards and see who has the freshest smile. Make it a memorable five minutes that you and your child enjoy together.
Sink Your Teeth into Good Nutrition
A healthy, balanced diet does a body good for many reasons, but in the area of cavity prevention, it’s a must. Prepare nutritious meals and limit snacking to a couple of times a day, especially if snacks include sugar. Each time your child’s teeth come in contact with sugar, bacteria in the mouth produces acid which attacks tooth enamel for up to 20 minutes. Eating sweets often, without brushing, results in damage that may eventually become a cavity. Your child should brush after eating sweets, and you should enforce a no-snacks-after-nighttime-brushing rule.
Seal of Approval
Discuss dental sealants or filling and bonding composites with your child’s dentist or emergency professionals like Smile Makers Dental. These thin, plastic coatings are usually used on the back teeth or molars, as soon as they come in. Molars are the chewing teeth, and because they are naturally covered in grooves and pits, food tends to stick there more easily and is harder to brush away. Sealants provide a barrier that can prevent food from sticking, and they last for several years.
Sneak Attack
You know that candy is bad for the teeth, especially sticky caramels and taffy. But even “good” foods can be sneaky when it comes to cavities. Gummy vitamins, fruit leather, and dried fruit such as raisins, can stick to the teeth and be hard to remove. Limit these items and be sure vitamins are sugar-free. Only allow gum on very special occasions.
Prevention is the root of a great dental checkup, and will result not only in filling your pockets with savings, but more importantly setting your child up for a lifetime of good dental habits.
