The best way to have a lifetime of healthy smiles is to start learning about oral health young! The more these habits are instilled in childhood, the more likely children are to keep them up. Without understanding why oral health habits are so important, children aren’t likely to keep them up. Following are some ways that you can teach them about the importance of dental care in fun and engaging ways.
Be Their Best Example
Children are extremely impressionable to what goes on around them. As their parents, if they see you doing a certain behavior, they’re very likely to mimic it. If they see you brushing your teeth and flossing every morning and night, they’ll want to do it as well. If it looks like you’re having a lot of fun doing it, they’ll want to do it even more! You can even make comments while you’re doing it, such as talking about how good it feels to have a clean mouth.
Read Them Dentist-Related Books
Literature is a great way to teach children about various subjects, especially dental health. This can even get them ready for an upcoming dental appointment. Stories about going to the dentist, brushing teeth, flossing, and practicing other good habits can excite them about practicing those habits. It relates dental health to their favorite fun characters.
Use Play-Doh
Using hands-on activities or games to entice your children can be a great tactic. Put blocks in a row then stick a little play-doh around the blocks and in between. Have the child use floss between the blocks to show how the floss can get the “plaque” out. Explain to them that if they don’t floss their teeth, there will be yucky material in between their teeth.
Make a “Smile” Art Project
If your child loves art, an art project can be a great way to teach them about oral health. Give them some old magazines to look through and have them cut out pictures of healthy teeth and smiles to make a collage out of it on fun-colored paper. Perhaps have them write and illustrate their own book about a child brushing their teeth or going to the dentist.
This is your chance to get creative with it! Whatever the art project is, you can talk about the importance of oral care with your child as they’re making the project.
Contact Our Pediatric Dental Office Today
The best way to instill the importance of good dental hygiene for your child is to bring them to the dentist when they’re young – around the time they’re 1 year old or when their first tooth erupts. If they come to understand it when they’re young and associate good memories and feelings with the dentist, they’re much more likely to develop positive dental habits.
With our games-filled office being extremely child-friendly and with a team of specialists who are trained to work specifically with children, you can trust that it’ll be the best possible dental experience for your child. For a kid’s dentist in Fort Worth, TX who will help instill the best oral care habits, give our pediatric dentists a call today!
