How children should brush their teeth

Basic hygiene habits in childhood

The teeth usually leave after 6 months, although there are earlier and later babies (milk teeth follow a different rhythm in each child). At 3 years old, your child will have almost all the teeth. Is it time to act or is it too late? When should we brush our child”s teeth? And at what time should they start brushing them for themselves?

When to start brushing baby”s teeth

The teeth form in the gums long before we see them. Hence babies are complaining for a long time before seeing the peak of their first milk tooth. Many dentists recommend washing baby”s teeth before they appear. Simply rub your gums with a clean, moist gauze twice a day. It will not take you long, and with this gesture, you will help remove the remains of milk or porridge, and above all, the sugar left in the baby”s gums. You can do it from four months, or as soon as you introduce foods with high sugar content in your child”s menu, such as fruit porridge or cereal porridge .

When the toothbrush should be used in children

As soon as the baby already has several milk teeth, you can start using a toothbrush with a small head and very soft bristles. Once in the morning and once at night, before going to bed. Do not use toothpaste yet. Just water. This routine will eventually become a healthy habit for your child and he will see it as natural when he grows up.

When and how to teach children to brush their teeth

After two years of age, you can start introducing toothpaste into your child”s daily brushing. You only need a small amount, about the size of a grain of rice. Take advantage and start telling him how to brush his teeth. It is still small, but little by little it will take practice. With three years the child will gain a lot of autonomy and will be able to brush his teeth by himself. Do not worry if at first you do not do well. You can be with him to tell him how to do it. This will prevent them from acquiring the mistakes of many adults: dragging the brush horizontally through the dentures (this can only move dirt through the teeth and cause gum problems).

To make sure your children clean their teeth well, see if you move your hand from top to bottom in the upper teeth and from the bottom up in the lower teeth. Teach him to rinse well (at first many children swallow the water. Little by little they will be able to spit it out).

Use toothpaste without fluoride, at least up to 6 years. Dentists advise against it in the first years because the child tends to swallow part of the toothpaste with which the teeth are cleaned, and the intake of fluoride in large quantities can be dangerous to health and discolor the teeth (called fluorosis).