Pre- school and junior years

Hi

We are now looking at the child from around 2 onward. Most children will have all of their 20 deciduous - baby - teeth by around 3 years of age. 

http://dentalcarematters.com/baby-teeth-order/

They will really develop a sense on independence and it can be tempting to give in to their demands to brush their teeth themselves. 

I highly recommend letting them have a go, but we should be supporting cleaning until around 7. A good guide for the individual child is that they can brush their own teeth when they can tie their own shoelaces. It is about good dexterity so both require skill and concentration.

What we can do as parents and carers is work with them so when they are ready to fly solo on brushing they really know what they are doing.

2 minutes brushing time
There are lots of ways you can reinforce that it takes 2 minutes to really brush the mouth well. You can get a 2 minute egg timer, great visual for short attention spans, or use a high tech version with the Brush DJ app.

You can also get toothbrushes that have timers in some form. Electric brushes are safe for use once the child is able to stay fairly stationary while you brush. Most companies recommend around age 4.

How to brush

http://www.eschooltoday.com/tooth-care-for-children/brushing-and-flossing-your-teeth.html

The key to good brushing well is starting at the back on one side and, using small circles touching tooth and gum, brushing all the outsides, then the insides, then the bits we chew on. Then you move on to the other arch - top or bottom - whichever you haven't done yet. 

If you move from one area to the other with no pattern you are more likely to miss some spots.

Check how you are doing

Using a disclosing solution to show up the bad germs is great for you as an adult brushing but also really helpful for the children learning how long and well they need to brush to get all that dye off. 

Use and adult toothpaste - a pea size, and spit out at the end of brushing but don't rinse.

This time starts to get tricky for us in terms of diet as they are often at a nursery or some form of childcare. 

Again there are things we can do to protect the teeth and keep sugary foods to a minimum.

• Drinks are water - don't offer juice 
• Avoid dry fruit as a snack - loaded with concentrated sugars
• Same with juices, the amount of sugar in them is quite a shock, there is a great sugar smart app for this too
• Keep sweet things to mealtimes

Losing teeth  

Teeth become lose and fall out making way for the adult teeth to come through. This can start as early as 4 or as late as 7 or 8. It can get tricky to brush when the teeth are lose as it can be tender for the child so go slow and be gentle. 

They can sometimes get a little smell as the tooth really starts to wobble and this is totally normal and nothing to worry about.

Visits to the dentist

We are so lucky that NHS dental check ups and treatment are free for all children and it is so important to go regularly. Every 6 months for a check up is normal. By the time you can see something is wrong, it will almost always mean treatment for the child.

Us dental people can prevent, and put a stop to decay if we get a chance to look in regularly. And that usually means no drilling or filling simply using varnishes and other medical treatments.

So don't delay, book your child in today! 

Next time, Primary Years, how to get your wobble on, and what to do if they do need a filling.