Dental care of toddlers is very important because these are their first teeth in life and the health of other teeth, including the permanent teeth, depends on the condition of the first ones. Dental care should start from the time the first tooth appears and needs full attention when all the baby teeth come out when the toddlers reach the age of around 2 ½ years.
The best way to teach toddlers something is to make them imitate what you do. Hence, encourage the kid to brush the teeth every day along with you and other family members, morning and night. In this way the kid will form a habit of brushing teeth as a routine procedure. Appropriate brush and tooth paste are available in the market for small children. Consult your dentist for a tooth paste with the right amount of fluoride.
A circular up and down motion of the brush around each tooth is the most suitable method to brush the teeth. Try to do this way as far as possible even if the child is restless or does not remain still.
One of the main reasons for toddler tooth decay is the use of sticky sweet items and sugary soft drinks. Discourage your toddlers from using these substances, and instead ,substitute non-sugary sweet items. Also, make them drink from a cup or a glass instead of a bottle. Bottle feeding is harmful to toddler teeth and speech development. But if they insist on bottle feeding then give only water in it, but offer milk and juices in a cup. Juices should be diluted well in water in a 1:10 ratio for younger toddlers. The ratio can be decreased as the child grows up.
Finally, familiarize your toddlers with your dentists and their equipments. The
Kids may not get frightened if they ever have to visit the dentist for their own check up or treatment.
Posted on February 29th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Baby, Child Care, Dental care, Toddler
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