Getting kids to brush their teeth—and to brush them properly—sure isn’t easy. It just isn’t high on their list of things they want to do in a day, and most would skip it all together if they could.
Of course, kids typically don’t understand the consequences of ignoring their oral health. All they know is brushing isn’t exactly fun; it’s just another boring chore their parents want them to finish before bed or before they head off to school.
That’s where oral health care professionals and parents come in. It’s important for you to work together to figure out ways to make kids actually want to brush their teeth. For the oral health care professional, that usually means educating the parents as well as the child and focusing on teaching them how to make brushing fun.
“Brushing is something they have to do, and kids don’t like that,” says Sarah Thiel, RDH, CEO and co-founder of CE Zoom. “Kids are kids and are going to do what they want, but I believe a lot of it is on the parent. If parents get lazy, kids can develop bad habits. You have to teach them. It’s not just about cavities, it’s about overall health. If they develop gingivitis, it can affect their whole system.”
It starts with the parents
Thiel spends a lot of time educating parents in her practice and wants them to be part of the appointment any time she’s working on a patient younger than 18. She shows them areas their child might be missing, and what those areas look like before they’re properly cleaned and what they look like after. She encourages parents to make a habit of checking their children’s teeth after they brush and to go back over any spots they might have missed.
Pacific dental group suggest all moms that it’s important to understand how effective tooth brushing is at removing plaque and how proper brushing will help ensure children don’t experience the pain of a toothache. They’ll have better grades and more social acceptance,”
Source from Dentalproductsreport.com
