If the first teeth of your child have just grown, the teeth must be brushed. It must be done to keep the child’s dental hygiene and their teeth can grow healthily.
As parents, you have to help your child to brush their teeth when their first teeth start to grow. You have to help them until they can brush their teeth by themselves. Do you know how to brush your child’s teeth well? To guide you, here are the tips about how to brush your child’s teeth according to the child psychologist. And for your information, usually children start to be able to brush their teeth by themselves when they are 6 years old.
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How to Brush Child’s Teeth
It is important for you to note that the way to brush a child’s teeth is a little bit different from brushing an adult’s teeth, especially when the child’s teeth have just grown. Here are the tips to brush a child’s teeth when their teeth have just grown.
1. Choose toothbrush with smooth bristles
You have to choose a toothbrush which is specifically for children where the bristles are smooth, has small head, and the handle is long enough to be gripped by children. A toothbrush only has to be used for 3 months and then change it with the new one.
By choosing a toothbrush with smooth bristles, your child will be comfortable and it is safer than hard bristles because the smooth one will not injure their gums and does not cause tooth decay. Note that never use one toothbrush together.
2. Use toothpaste which contains fluoride
You have to choose toothpaste for children. There are a lot of toothpastes with fruits flavours such as strawberry, orange, or grapes where your child will like it. Whatever the flavour is, the most important thing is that the toothbrush needs to contain fluoride.
Why must the toothpaste contain fluoride? It is because fluoride in the toothpaste will keep teeth from cavities, inhibit bacterial growth, and strengthen teeth. If the toothpaste does not contain fluoride, it only helps to clean teeth, not for protecting teeth or keeping teeth from cavities.
For children aged 6 to 36 months, the fluoride content in toothpaste which is safe is 0.1 mg. For children aged 3 to 6 years, the safe fluoride content is 0.25 mg. In general, the safe dosage used to prevent cavities is 0.05 mg/kg BW (kilogram body weight).
3. Adjust the size of the toothpaste with the age of the child
You have to pay attention to the amount of toothpaste used by your child. When the first teeth appear at 6 months to 3 years, use a little toothpaste where it is around the size of a grain of rice. When the child is 3 to 6 years, add the amount of toothpaste to the size of a pea. You have to teach your child to spit after brushing their teeth so that they do not swallow the toothpaste. However, if you find that the toothpaste is swallowed, you do not have to worry as long as the amount is normal according to age and weight calculations.
4. Choose the right time to brush your child’s teeth
It is recommended to brush teeth in the morning and at night before going to bed. When brushing your child’s teeth, brush them slowly for 2 to 3 minutes. By brushing teeth slowly, it can clean the dirt on the child’s teeth without causing injury to the gums.
When children are 3 to 8 months, usually their first milk teeth appear and at that time you can start to clean their teeth by using gauze or a soft cloth wrapped around your finger. And then, wipe the surface of the child’s teeth with the index finger. If the child’s front milk teeth have fully grown, then you are able to start introducing them to the toothbrush. At first, brush the teeth only with water and if the child is used to it and comfortable to brush their teeth, you are able to introduce them to toothpaste.
As parents, you have to pay attention to the health of your children’s teeth and mouth since their first teeth appear. Also, it is important to check your child’s teeth routinely to the dentist from an early age.
