How To Keep Your Child’s Teeth Healthy
Our dentists enjoy treating children and firmly believe that good dental practices from childhood are crucial for a healthy mouth for life.
Our aim is to:
- Ensure that your children enjoy their dental visits
- Educate kids on how to prevent future disease
- Focus on preventing oral disease
- Prevent poor facial growth patterns.
Regular early preventive check-ups and an immaculate at-home preventive program are important in preventing dental problems. This ensures that your child’s dental experiences are enjoyable and positive and prevents fear about future dental visits.
Our dedicated oral hygiene program is unique in the local Point Cook area and is designed to educate parents and children about good dental practices.
In children, we would like to see:
- Decay free teeth
- Healthy gums and mouth
- Nasal breathing as this assists with growth and development
- Proper facial development – with both upper and lower jaws working well
- A healthy bite, jaw and jaw joint
Dental Gallery tips for parents & children 0-5 years old
- From the age of 2, have regular 6 monthly check ups with your dentist or oral health therapist
- Ensure twice daily brushing and at least once a day this should be done by the parent
- Flossing daily once the permanent back teeth come through
- Restrict drinks like juices, cordial and soft drinks and only drinking water
- Ensure that you child is not a mouth breather and is able to breathe properly through their nose
- Check that your child does not snore or make heavy breathing noises when ye sleeping and is not a restless sleeper
- Restrict the consumption of processed foods and instead encourage children to eat a range of fresh foods that require chewing as this encourages jaw growth and development
- Eating soft mushy foods do not let the jaws grow and develop and leads to more crowding of the teeth and increases the chance that they may need orthodontic treatment.
- Ensure your dentist checks that there are no tongue or lip ties that may affect the growth and development of the jaw.
- Watch for speech issues, hyperactivity mood swings and learning problems and ensure your child is sleeping well for about 10-12 hours per night
- Watch for signs of nasal congestion such as having allergies, hay fever, constant runny or itchy noses as this affects their ability to breathe through their nose
- Encourage good posture, eating with the mouth closed and nasal breathing from a young age
- Avoid thumb sucking, biting on teddies, dummy or sippy cup use or nail biting as these can adversely affect the growth and development of the jaw
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Dental Gallery tips for parents & children 5-12 year olds
- Regular 6 monthly check ups by your dentist or oral health therapist
- Brush teeth twice a day for 2 minutes each time
- Floss teeth daily
- Drink water throughout the day
- Limit juices, soft drinks, cordial, sports drinks to once a week
- Limit intake of confectionery- biscuits, chips, lollies, cakes, muesli bars, chocolates and other snacks to once or twice a week
- Eat fresh fruit and vegetables that encourage chewing. This helps to clean teeth and stimulate jaw growth.
- Ensure nasal breathing- this helps to keep the teeth decay free, gums healthy and ensures growth and development of the jaws. It also helps to prevent catching colds and other viruses as the nose filters the air we breathe.
- Ensure there are no habits- thumb sucking, dummy or sippy cup use or nail biting.
- Ensure adequate sleeping hours for the appropriate age groups.
- Ensure good posture at all times- this helps to develop better jaw growth and function
- Ensure good eating habits with regular meal times and good nasal breathing while eating (that is chewing with the mouth closed).