Helping your child brush their teeth

| July 11, 2008

It’s important to get your child interested in brushing their teeth at a young age because this will build good habits for the future.

Most children don’t have enough coordination to properly brush their own teeth until the age of 7 so it’s important for you to supervise the process as well as help out to insure they are covering all the areas and to minimize the swallowing of toothpaste.

  • Brush your child’s teeth twice per day for about 2 minutes each time
  • Use a toothbrush designed for the age of your child
  • Place a pea-size amount of toothpaste on the brush
  • Clean each tooth with a gentle circular motion
  • Make sure you clean all the surfaces of their teeth and clean right up to the gum line
  • After brushing, encourage your child to spit all of the toothpaste out to minimize swallowing

Getting a child to brush properly twice per day for 2 minutes can be easier said than done but here are some fun tooth brushing activites to help.