5 Kids Dental Health Tips
I received StarSmilez Puppet in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.
I am married to a dentist, well almost a dentist, he is almost done with school. My kids are 3 and 1.5 and they can both tell you about “sugar bugs” and how important it is to brush your teeth. They both love to brush and sometimes I catch them hiding in the bathroom brushing their teeth. I am not making this up, we are pretty dorky around our house.
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this phrase: “Their baby teeth are just going to fall out anyway, who cares?” I can give you so many reasons why taking care of your teeth, even the baby ones, is so important. Eating, guiding permanent teeth into place, no pain for your child, the list goes on and on but really it boils down to this: Teaching your child to take care of their creates healthy habits that will last a lifetime.
It is recommended that a child see their dentist around their first birthday. So many children never see a dentist until they already have dental problems. This causes kids to associate a dentist with pain, and how many adults do you know who have hated going to the dentist since they were kids? So the real question is how can you help from home?
Here are five tips for encouraging dental hygiene with your kids at home:
- Make brushing fun, play a song and have your kids brush until it stops.
- Let your kids choose a toothbrush/paste in their favorite color or favorite character.
- Let them earn rewards by remembering to brush correctly on their own.
- Brush together! Kids love to do whatever you are doing.
- Keep a positive and enthusiastic attitude about the dentist and taking care of your teeth! Lead by example.
StarSmilez is a company that wants to help you keep dental care fun! They offer a fun lineup of puppets and stuffed personalities to help teach your kids proper dental hygiene techniques in a fun and playful way.
Each puppet features:
- 2 times life-size dentition
- Fully flossible
- Gingival crevices
- Interproximal contacts
- Water bottle assembly with squirting capability (so cute and fun!)
- Removable tongue with Velcro closure
- Oversized demonstration toothbrush
These puppets are perfect for presentations, in office use, or even classroom education. But, for at home use Starsmilez offers these super cute smaller size puppets.
These 9 inch lil’ guys feature:
- 1/2 life-size durable dentition
- Four flossible locations
- Includes one demonstration toothbrush
The perfect size for one-on-one teaching opportunities with your kids. These cute animals are the perfect size to sit out on your bathroom counter and remind your kids how important it is to brush and floss properly you can find them here.
My 3-year-old has a toothbrush that lights up, so he has to turn off the light every time he brushes, lol!
My son was so proud of himself when he brushed his teeth all by himself that without my knowing he packed his toothbrush in his backpack and took it to day care to show everyone.
I remember the first time when my little one tried chewing on the brush instead of brushing.
My kids used to sing the abc song so fast while cleaning teeth I think it took them 30 seconds so we got an eggtimer
My daughters love brushing their teeth now(ages 4 & 7) but a few years ago, they used to hate it so in order to get them to brush, I told them that all of their teeth were going to turn black and fall out. They were really scared of that happening and have been brushing great ever since! I just hope that their baby sister will start brushing well too!
I bought my son a spin brush to brush his teeth with because he had to have one like his sister. But every time we turn it on he cries. So he will only use it to brush his teeth like you would use a manual toothbrush.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com