Table of contents:
- How to teach oral health to children
- Read a book on oral health
- Make a dental and oral health calendar for children
- Choose a brush and toothpaste color
- Fun activity to teach brushing teeth
- Teach the benefits of mouthwash and other things to maintain oral hygiene
Good oral health helps maintain a person's overall health. Therefore, teaching dental and oral health to children from an early age is important. Come on, guide children to adopt the habit of maintaining dental and oral hygiene from an early age with the tips below.
How to teach oral health to children
The benefits of good oral hygiene are not limited to a beautiful smile. Healthy teeth and mouth allow a person to eat comfortably and maintain their speech skills. On the other hand, poor oral hygiene can cause problems, from bad breath to oral diseases.
Read a book on oral health
To encourage children's interest in maintaining oral health on a daily basis, parents can read books that have values about oral health.
Choose a book or reading with a topic that catches their attention. For example, a reading about a monster and how a child character is able to defeat it. This brief reading by the Dental Association of the United States (ADA) teaches the importance of keeping teeth and mouth clean.
One of the important points taught is how children can defeat “monsters” that threaten health, such as plaque, by brushing their teeth 2 minutes twice a day.
Make a dental and oral health calendar for children
Dental health calendar helps parents monitor children's oral hygiene. This calendar can contain fields that can be checked, such as the morning and evening toothbrush column.
After brushing teeth together with the child, ask the child to check the morning toothbrush column. At night, do the same. The purpose of this method is to help adopt oral hygiene habits from an early age.
So that your child's interest in maintaining oral hygiene does not wear off, you can provide encouragement by giving a gift if the child succeeds in checking all the columns for an entire month.
Choose a brush and toothpaste color
One way to maintain oral hygiene is to brush your teeth. So that children want to start daily oral health habits, let them choose the color of their child's toothbrush they like or toothpaste with a packaging that catches their attention.
One thing parents should keep an eye on is to make sure the toothbrush is suitable for children. Then, make sure the toothpaste you are going to use is also harmless.
Fun activity to teach brushing teeth
Parents can teach children how to brush their own teeth when the child is more independent, generally when the child is able to get rid of toothpaste from the mouth.
To teach children how to brush their teeth, you can brush your teeth together with your child. When brushing teeth together, play the child's favorite song so that the child doesn't rush to finish. Choose a child's favorite song with a duration of at least 2 minutes so that the child is willing to brush their teeth for 2 minutes.
Teach the benefits of mouthwash and other things to maintain oral hygiene
Maintaining healthy teeth and mouth in children is not just by brushing teeth. Adopt other helpful habits after your child is brushing their own teeth.
There are two good habits for oral health, namely rinsing the mouth with mouthwash and flossing teeth. Mouthwash helps maintain healthy teeth and mouth and can be used when the child is 6 years old, approved by the dentist, and when the child is able to hold the liquid in the mouth so that it is not swallowed. Mouthwash that contains essential oils (thymol, eucalyptol, menthol, methyl salicate) can help maintain a child's oral health.
A study entitled The efficacy of antiseptic mouth rinses in comparison with dental floss in controlling interproximal gingivitis pointed out, regular toothbrushes and rinsing the mouth using mouthwash containing essential oils helps reduce plaque and the risk of gingivitis.
The advantage of rinsing your mouth with mouthwash is to keep your breath fresh, because the essential oils present are able to get rid of bad odors.
The way to teach children to gargle with mouthwash is to initially teach children to rinse using drinking water. If the child is able to hold the drinking water that is gargled so that it is not swallowed, you can ask the child to rinse his mouth with mouthwash.
In addition, a good habit for maintaining oral hygiene is cleaning between teeth using flossing or dental floss. Teach children how to flossing teeth and do this at least once a day. That way, between teeth that are difficult to reach by just brushing your teeth can be kept clean.
Hopefully the methods above are useful for maintaining healthy teeth and mouth in children. Don't forget to tell your child about the importance of a healthy diet so you don't get dental and mouth problems.
