How to Make Dental Hygiene Easier for Your Child

Posted July 6, 2020

Sometimes, teaching your child to take care of their teeth properly takes more than just showing them the motions and expecting them to repeat them. If they aren’t at least a little excited about brushing and flossing their teeth, they aren’t likely to do it right when left to their own devices. Fortunately, making such a mundane process something to look forward to can be a lot easier than you realize at first. With these tips, you can have a better chance at making good dental hygiene easier for your child to stick to.

Use the right children’s hygiene tools

It’s usually pretty easy to spot the difference between hygiene products for adults and products that are designed specifically for children. Besides being flashier and attracting your child’s attention at the store, the fun designs also serve several practical purposes. On one hand, they’re often designed to be gentler on your child’s still-developing tooth enamel to avoid damage when they brush. Also, kids will be more excited to use a toothbrush with their favorite cartoon or comic book character and a toothpaste that tastes like bubble gum than would be with the more boring designs of the products their parents use.

Time their brushing and flossing with a song

For a tooth brushing and flossing session to be effective, your child should brush their teeth for at least two minutes at a time. This can seem like no time at all in some circumstances, but for a child doing something they aren’t that excited about, it can feel like hours. To fight the boredom and make the countdown more fun, time it to two minutes of their favorite song, or at least once that they enjoy listening to. Turn it into a game where the goal is to clean all of their teeth’s surfaces as thoroughly as possible by the time the song ends, and the time will start to fly by, instead.

Schedule hygiene time before something fun

No matter how fun brushing and flossing their teeth can become, children still won’t be that excited about it if it means they have to go to bed right after they’ve finished. It’s important to give them something to look forward to, a reason to complete the task quickly and correctly every time. For example, make brushing and flossing mandatory right before watching TV or reading for an hour or two, or before giving your child an hour of free time to do as they please before bed time.

Get your child excited about good dental hygiene

Dental hygiene is only effective if your child is motivated to practice it regularly. With these tips, you can help keep them motivated easier! To learn more,  or to schedule an appointment, call Pediatric Dental Care at Casa Linda in Dallas, TX today at 214-321-4880. We proudly serve patients who live around Casa Linda and all surrounding Dallas communities.