Tooth Decay Prevention for Children

There are 3 main steps you can take to prevent tooth decay for your children. They are:

1. Making sure they brush their teeth regularly
2. Taking them to the dentist regularly
3. Cutting down on the amount and frequency of sugar they have

Brushing your child’s teeth

Brushing your child’s teeth is an essential part of your child’s daily routine so that they pick up good habits about brushing their teeth regularly.  As soon as your baby starts to produce teeth then you should purchase a baby toothbrush and use that. It is recommended that your child’s teeth should be brushed at least twice a day – first thing in the morning and last thing at night before they go to bed. The amount of toothpaste to use depends on the age of your child and should range from a thin film of toothpaste for children under the age of 3 to a pea-sized blob of toothpaste for 3 to 6 year olds. Flouride toothpaste should be used.

We would encourage you to supervise the cleaning of your child’s teeth until they are at least 7 years of age so that they know exactly how to do it.

Going to the dentist

We recommend that you start taking your child to a dentist as soon as their first milk teeth appear so that they get into the routine of going for regular check-ups as advised by the dentist.

Avoiding sugar

One of the big causes of tooth decay in children is the amount of sugar that they have in sweets, food and drinks. The more you can minimise this the better so avoiding fizzy drinks, natural fruit juices, milkshakes and smoothies is advisable and let your children drink water or milk instead.

To find out more about the best way to prevent tooth prevention in children and to arrange regular check-ups for your child then please get in touch. We would be happy to help.