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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.