Taking good care of your children’s teeth from an early age is absolutely vital if you want to help them to smile with confidence for life. 

From the moment they start to appear, your children’s teeth are just as susceptible to decay and other problems as your own teeth are.  Even though their first ”baby” teeth are later replaced, they still have a huge effect on your child’s future smile. 

For babies, the key steps to avoiding problems in the future are to offer only milk and water in a bottle, never juice or squash, and to start cleaning your child’s teeth twice a day as soon as they start to come through. 

Initially, you can use a children’s toothbrush with a small smear of toothpaste – you may find it easier to stand or sit behind your child so you can reach their top and bottom teeth more easily.  Brush gently in small circular movements and remember to brush behind the teeth and along the gumline.  Even when your child can clean their own teeth, you should continue to supervise them until they are seven years old or more. 

Seeing a dentist regularly is important for your child.  You should start to bring your child with you to appointments even before their own teeth appear, so they can get used to the sights, smells and sounds of the practice. 

Once they have their own teeth, they should have regular check-ups – we will advise you on how often these should be.  These will be fairly informal, but enable us to keep a close eye on how your child’s teeth are developing. 

Last but certainly not least, discourage your child from eating sugary snacks and drinking sweet and/or fizzy drinks in between meals – frequent consumption of these is the main cause of tooth decay. 

For more information on how we can help care for your children’s teeth, please call us – we’ll be happy to help.