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Parent’s Role

Parents are a child's first teacher in life and play a significant role in maintaining his or her overall health. Providing oral health education to mothers and families is essential to teaching children healthy habits and preventing early childhood tooth decay.

Education

Parents are responsible for their child's oral hygiene practices and are advised to meet with a general dentist to determine the best way to establish and maintain their child's oral health. A dentist will provide families with oral health literature that is designed to educate both the parent and child.

Diet is another factor that affects a child's oral health. Frequent and long-term exposure to liquids that contain sugars commonly results in tooth decay. In addition to eliminating sugary drinks altogether from a child's diet, parents can adopt other habits to prevent tooth decay. Avoid giving children milk juice or soda at night time. The sugars will linger on their teeth and gums for a prolonged period of time, promoting decay.

Building a Healthy Mouth

Parents are a child's first teachers in life and they play a significant role in maintaining their child's overall health.Long-term exposure to liquids containing sugars like milk, fruit juice ans sodas.In addition to tooth decay, other dental problems,

  • such as teething irritations,
  • gum disease and
  • prolonged thumb or pacifier sucking.

There are many things that parents can do with their child at home to maintain good oral health:

  • Brush your child’s teeth using a small, soft- bristled toothbrush and a pea- sized dab of fluoride toothpaste.
  • Help a young child brush at night, which is the most important time to brush, due to lower salivary flow during sleep and higher susceptibility to cavities and plaque.
  • By approximately age 5, your child can learn to brush his or her teeth with proper parental instruction and supervision.
  • The best way to teach a child how to brush is to lead by your good example. Allowing your child to watch you brush your teeth teaches the importance of good oral hygiene.
  • Children should see the dentist every six months.