Dental Care Tips For Young Children
Are you the parent of a baby or young toddler? Are you trying to figure out instill good dental hygiene habits, to help prevent dental problems when they're older? It can be difficult to persuade a small child to care for their teeth, but there are some things that you can do to help things along. Here are some things that may help:
Visit the dentist before the exam: Meeting a stranger who wants to poke at your mouth with strange tools can be a frightening experience for a young child. When taking your child to a new dentist, find one who will be willing to make a pre-exam appointment a few days before the actual exam, so that your child can get to know the dentist beforehand. Ideally, for slightly older toddlers, the dentist should also be willing to give you a mock dental exam at this meeting, so that your child can see that he or she isn't going to be hurt.
Have multiple toothbrushes: When you tell your child that it's time to brush his or her teeth, he or she might fight back just to be contrary. Although they may not mind the actual act of brushing their teeth, most children would rather do just about anything else than care for their teeth. But having several toothbrushes to choose from can actually help the situation. Instead of simply telling your child that it's time to brush their teeth, for example, tell them that it's time to brush their teeth with the red toothbrush. If they complain or start to argue, you can pretend to consider and eventually concede that it's okay for them to use the blue or the green toothbrush instead. Giving in on a minor point like this will allow them to feel like they have some control of the situation, while also learning that you're not willing to compromise about the actual act of brushing their teeth.
Do something fun afterwards: Whether it's a visit to the dentist or a simple brushing of his or her teeth, reward your child after the task is completed. After a visit to the dentist, you might take your child out to get his or her favorite fast food meal. For daily brushing, have a special story time or color a picture together afterwards. This will help your child start to associate dental care with good things, making it less likely that he or she will put up a fuss in the future. Visit a website such as www.hcdentistry.com/ for more information.
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