Regular Dental Checks For Your Child

Children must have a regular dental checkup.  It is recommended that the children must have two regular checkups before the age of 3½ years.  These regular visits allow the early detection of any dental problems.  These checkups can be performed by the health nurse, dental therapists or pediatricians.  Between 12-24 months, it would be best that you get dental consultation from the maternal and child nurse.

The recommended checks that need to be done by the maternal and child nurse must be done at the times between the ages of 12 to 24 months, as well as the age of 3½ years.  It is important here to address the ways through which you can prevent your child from any dental problems.  This includes avoiding addition of sugar, fat and salt.  It is a must that you not use any lemon juice to relieve any tooth related problems.

The reason to not use lemon is to prevent direct contact of acid with teeth as it can hurt the erupting teeth.  Do not give bottled milk or breast milk as a comforter.  The first tooth appears at the age between six to nine months and as soon as it appears, it should be cleaned.  The correct way to clean the teeth of your baby is to wear a damp gauze piece on your finger and then wipe the front and back of the teeth.  This process needs to be continued for each new tooth, as it erupts.

At the age of 12 months, you must start cleaning your child’s teeth with a soft toothbrush.  The best way to do that is to clean the teeth with a wet toothbrush.  It is at this age that it is best that your child must visit a dentist to get proper dental health follow up.  At the age of 12-24 months, the different ways you can prevent dental problems include weaning off your child from bottle feeds.

If your child is thirsty, then you must prefer to give them water rather than any sugary drinks.  You must encourage your child to have semi-solid foods as well as drinks.  To clean the teeth, you should continue using the soft toothbrush.  At about the age of 2 years, you must introduce a low fluoride toothpaste to clean your child’s teeth.  While you are educating your child regarding brushing their teeth, it is important that at this time you encourage them to spit the toothpaste.

At the age of three and a half years, you must continue brushing with the use of a soft toothbrush with applying a low fluoride toothpaste.  It would be good that you allow them to brush their teeth and supervise them during the process so as to let them know that they should spit the toothpaste.  It is also important that you discourage them from sucking fingers.  The basic reason to stop them from sucking fingers is the fact that this can lead into orthodontic problems.

When your child reaches the school going age, you must take your child to a dentist and you can have the dentist apply sealants on their teeth, which will serve as a protective coating to prevent tooth decay.  As a last word, it is of true importance that your child gets regular dental checkups so as to ensure excellent dental hygiene.