{"id":1183,"date":"2021-04-19T15:07:46","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T15:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/?p=1183"},"modified":"2022-04-27T17:25:35","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T17:25:35","slug":"5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips for Teaching Kids Good Dental Habits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is getting your child to brush their teeth a daily chore? Teaching them good dental habits early isn\u2019t always easy, but it\u2019s an important lesson that will impact their health for the rest of their life. You might have a hard time getting your child(ren) to brush and <\/span>floss<\/span> every day, and that\u2019s normal! Encourage proper techniques and habits, leading by example. There are, however, some techniques you can pick up to try and make it more fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Start Early<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We recommend you start taking your child to the dentist by the time they turn one – or six months after their first tooth comes in. As soon as your child\u2019s first tooth sprouts, it is accessible to plaque, which can lead to cavities and other dental complications. Ask your dentist about the proper steps for caring for your baby\u2019s first teeth.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This is also a good time to get advice on your child\u2019s incorrect oral habits such as<\/span> thumb\/finger sucking and pacifier use<\/span><\/a>. Follow up with your dentist as often as every six months. They will be able to assist you in making an oral care schedule for your child.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n

      Get Them Involved<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Letting children make their own choices about their toothbrushes and toothpaste will help spark their interest in dental care so it will seem like more of a fun activity than a chore. If a princess toothbrush makes taking care of their teeth more fun, go for it! Just make sure whatever they choose is approved by the FDA and ADA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \n

        Offer Incentives\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Let\u2019s face it, as parents, a little bribe here and there will work. Start small – offer extra playtime or a treat over the weekend. We don\u2019t recommend big rewards every day because this can lead to unmet expectations and ruin your progress. Small rewards over a longer period of time will allow for \u201cweaning\u201d off this technique, at the same time encouraging good oral care.<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \n

          Educate<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Teach your children all about dental care and the consequences of not following proper cleaning techniques. Be sure that they understand why we take care of our teeth and how they help us every day. And make sure older siblings are on board too!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. \n

            Make it a routine<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Children respond well to patterns and routines. Be sure to incorporate good dental care into their morning, afternoon, and evening routine. Keep an eye on them during these times to ensure they are using proper techniques and ask your dentist if you have any questions about how to improve their daily routines.<\/span><\/p>\n

            If you have any additional questions about your children\u2019s oral health, <\/span>contact us!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Teaching children good dental habits early isn\u2019t always easy, but it\u2019s an important lesson that will impact their health for the rest of their life. There are some techniques you can pick up to try and make it more fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[113,13,6],"yoast_head":"\n5 Tips for Teaching Kids Good Dental Habits - Southlake Family Dentistry Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"5 Tips for Teaching Kids Good Dental Habits - Southlake Family Dentistry Blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Teaching children good dental habits early isn\u2019t always easy, but it\u2019s an important lesson that will impact their health for the rest of their life. There are some techniques you can pick up to try and make it more fun.\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/\",\"name\":\"5 Tips for Teaching Kids Good Dental Habits - Southlake Family Dentistry Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-19T15:07:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-27T17:25:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/267fdd6515ebcc88d66431f9f3a04f30\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Southlake Family Dentistry Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/267fdd6515ebcc88d66431f9f3a04f30\",\"name\":\"southlakedental\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Tips for Teaching Kids Good Dental Habits - Southlake Family Dentistry Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"5 Tips for Teaching Kids Good Dental Habits - Southlake Family Dentistry Blog","twitter_description":"Teaching children good dental habits early isn\u2019t always easy, but it\u2019s an important lesson that will impact their health for the rest of their life. There are some techniques you can pick up to try and make it more fun.","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/","url":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/","name":"5 Tips for Teaching Kids Good Dental Habits - Southlake Family Dentistry Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2021-04-19T15:07:46+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-27T17:25:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/267fdd6515ebcc88d66431f9f3a04f30"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-teaching-kids-good-dental-habits\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/","name":"Southlake Family Dentistry Blog","description":"","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/267fdd6515ebcc88d66431f9f3a04f30","name":"southlakedental"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1183"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1468,"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions\/1468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southlakedentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}