Tips to improve kids' dental health

Dental and oral wellbeing is an important part of your general health and well-being. Bad habits regarding oral cleanliness can prompt dental problems and gum infections and are likewise connected to coronary illness, disease, and diabetes.

Maintaining oral hygiene is a lifetime responsibility. The sooner one learns to follow steps for oral cleanliness like brushing, flossing, and restricting sugar intake, the easier it will be to avoid expensive dental procedures and long-term health problems.

Likewise, dental hygiene is very important for kids. Strong oral care benefits in setting good dental habits as a child grows. Conditioning children and motivating parents and caretakers to examine the oral health of children deliver rich rewards in the form of reduced dental pain, good dental health, proper dental function, and less dental expenditure.

Additionally, good oral health in children also promotes social development. The benefits of dental hygiene underlie the need to present and make use of dental preventative services in early childhood. While most children begin to take adequate care of their teeth by the time their permanent teeth come in, this may not be the case for all children. Thus early interventions may have an ongoing and increasing impact on the child's overall health in many forms.

Following are a few tips for kids to improve their dental health:

♦ The most promising way to protect a youngster's teeth is to teach good dental habits. With the right training, children quickly adopt good oral hygiene as a part of their daily routine. One needs to supervise and assist the kids so that all the plaque—the soft, sticky, bacteria, causing tooth decay is removed. Also, keep observing to find out areas of brown or white spots which might be symptoms of early decay.

♦ As soon as a child develops a tooth one should be helping the child in brushing the teeth two times a day with a smear of fluoride toothpaste on a toothbrush that has soft bristles.

♦ Besides regular toothbrushing with the right amount of toothpaste, a kid's diet will play a critical part in his dental health. The longer and more frequently a child's teeth are exposed to sugar, the greater the risk of cavities that can cause damage to the teeth. Make sure to always brush the child's teeth after the child has eaten sweets. In addition, do not allow your child to have any sugar-containing liquid for a prolonged period.

♦ Children should see a dentist every 6 months for routine cleaning and checkups. Regular cleaning helps remove any plaque buildup that can lead to problems like cavities. During these checkups, the dentists can also provide oral hygiene tips to keep a child's teeth healthy. Furthermore, a dentist can also advise on getting x-rays which would also help to make sure there are no dental issues.

♦ It is recommended to replace a toothbrush every 3 months or when its bristles start to fray. Keeping a toothbrush for too long gives bacteria a chance to develop on the bristles which can cause problems.

(-Dr Kanika Dewan, Dentist Nanda Dental Clinic)