3 Tips To Help Your Children Develop Healthy Oral Habits

Trying to teach healthy oral habits to kids can be a real challenge, as most kids have a weird resistance to anything that is good for them. However, taking the right approach towards it can make a huge difference.

If you try to enforce good habits on kids, they’ll naturally try to fend it off. But if you encourage them in a way that doesn’t feel too authoritative, they may pick up on these healthy habits. Following are a few ways you can encourage your kids to develop healthy oral habits.

1. Brush Your Teeth Together: If you force your kids to brush their teeth as you shout at them from behind, they may not consider it a good thing. However, if you stand there yourself and brush your teeth while asking them to join you, they’ll likely look forward to it. Kids have a natural tendency to replicate adults. Therefore, this practice may make them feel like they’re being treated like adults as well.
    
2. Regular Dental Visits: Most kids (and adults) have an irrational fear of dentists. To prevent your kids from developing this fear, start their dentist visits early on. After the visit, take them to a fun activity – such as a playground or lunch at their favorite joint. This will help them associate happy memories with the dental appointment, and they’ll start looking forward to it instead of finding excuses to skip the appointment.
    
3. Make it Fun: There are a lot of ways you can make oral health fun for kids. Instead of sitting them down and teaching them the necessity of brushing their teeth in a boring way, try to add elements of dancing, songs, storytelling, and positive enforcement apps to build their habits. You can easily find many short videos on the internet that teach the benefits of oral health in a fun and engaging way, so make use of these.

If you reside in Summerfield, Oak Ridge, Forest Valley, or Friendly Acres, contact Piedmont Pediatric Dentistry for a consultation.