Your child’s teeth begin growing before birth but only break the surface a few months after. If you have children, you know how uncomfortable that process can be!
Caring for your child’s teeth is one of the most important things you can do as a parent and one of the most important life skills you can teach your child. Teeth are an integral part of our identity and our lives, so teaching your child how to care for them properly is an incredibly important part of their development.
Primary teeth
The primary teeth or “baby teeth” begin to appear sometime between six months and one year old. The process will continue until your child is around 33 months old. By age three, your child should have all 20 primary teeth.
Habits formed early are ones we carry with us throughout our lives. Children who have healthy teeth are also many times more likely to have healthy teeth as adults. So it’s important to create these good habits as early as possible.
Your child will begin losing their primary teeth from around age 6 and will likely be replaced by adult teeth by age 12. There should be 32 adult teeth in all once fully grown.
Caring for your child’s teeth
Caring for your child’s teeth is much the same as caring for your own. As mentioned, creating good oral hygiene habits early on makes them second nature and provides the best possible start for their long-term health. Dental visits need to start when all 20 primary teeth are in the mouth.
Caring for a child’s teeth includes:
- Brushing twice a day using a suitable brush and toothpaste
- Teaching proper brushing technique and explaining why it’s so important
- Teaching not to rinse the mouth after brushing
- Providing a healthy, balanced diet without too much sugar, soda or candy
- Visiting your dentist regularly and teaching that the dentist is nothing to be scared of
Habits
Introducing healthy habits as early as possible will give a child the best possible chance to lead a healthy, happy life. Teaching them to brush as soon as practical is the first of these good habits. Visiting the dentist from an early age, even if for a quick informal check will introduce them to our environment and teach them that we’re nothing to be scared of. It’s a vital part of their development and will have far reaching consequences as they get older.
Diet
Diet is an incredibly important part of your child’s development that has a huge influence on how healthy and happy they are. Diet isn’t just about teeth; it’s about growth, mental development, resistance to diseases and preparing them for adult life.
The more varied you can make their diet the better as it not only gives your child the nutrients they need, it also gives them a wide base of foodstuffs they will be used to be the time they get older. As holistic dentists, we believe in a complete approach to health and starting young is the very best way to ensure a long, productive and most of all, happy life!
If you live in Denville, Dover, Morristown, Morris Plains, Mountain Lakes, Randolph, Rockaway and need to know more about dental care for kids, contact Aesthetic Family Dentistry. We can help!
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