At what age should children start brushing their teeth?

Brushing teeth can better ensure oral hygiene and dental health, but many people always think that children are too young to brush their teeth in a hurry to avoid irritating the gums, so they brush their children's teeth very late. In fact, this idea is very wrong. We must pay more attention to details when taking care of children. Let's find out at what age children should start brushing their teeth.

At what age should children start brushing their teeth?

Have you brushed your teeth today? This question is not only for children over 2 years old. From the day their teeth start growing, parents must ensure that their children brush their teeth every day. The next question is "Do you know how to brush your child's teeth?" Many parents don't know how to brush their children's teeth because their children have poor cooperation. For this purpose, we specially consulted a pediatric dentist to teach us some tips on brushing teeth for children of different ages.

Proper teeth cleaning technique is the key.

Experts recommend that parents should let their children develop the good habit of brushing their teeth after meals and before going to bed (or at least twice a day), and rinsing their mouths anytime after eating snacks.

From 0 to 6 months, before the deciduous teeth grow out, rinsing the mouth is the most important thing.

·Supplies needed: warm water, a small piece of sterilized gauze.

Technical guidance: Give your child some warm water after feeding, which is equivalent to gargling. You can also use gauze dipped in warm water to gently wipe your baby's gums and mouth.

From 6 months to 1.5 years old, when the deciduous teeth are growing, parents should remove the plaque and soft plaque on the children's teeth every day to keep the mouth clean and cultivate the children's hygienic habits.

Required supplies: sterile gauze or cotton swabs, warm water, fingertip toothbrush Technical instructions: The mother sits on the sofa or bedside and lets the child lie in her arms. The mother uses one hand to hold the child's head and lips, and uses the other hand to hold a clean gauze or fingertip toothbrush and dip it in warm water to clean the outer and inner sides of the child's teeth. While wiping, gently massage your child's gums to help relieve the discomfort caused by teething.

Between 1.5 and 3 years old, when the baby's deciduous teeth have all grown out, let your baby understand the process and details of brushing teeth, so that he can be prepared to brush his teeth by himself in the future.

Supplies needed: training toothbrush, cotton swabs.

Technical guidance: The child can stand or sit on a stool, and the mother can stand behind or to the side of the child, fix the child's head with one hand, and use the other hand to hold a toothbrush dipped in warm water to brush the child's teeth (no toothpaste is needed). The order of brushing your teeth is: place the bristles of the toothbrush close to the gums and tilt it at a 45-degree angle to the tooth surface. Brush the upper teeth from top to bottom and the lower teeth from bottom to top. After brushing the outer side, you should also brush the inner side and the biting surface of the back teeth. Each surface needs to be brushed 15 to 20 times to achieve the purpose of cleaning teeth.

During this period, the deciduous teeth are arranged sparsely and have shorter crowns, which can easily cause food impaction. Therefore, before brushing the teeth, the mother should first check whether there is food stuck in the child's teeth. If so, the food should be removed with a cotton swab before brushing the teeth. In addition, you should start training your baby to brush his teeth by himself. Let him imitate your movements first. When he is 2 years old, you can try to let him brush his teeth by himself. At this time, you cannot ask the child to persist for too long, just let him become proficient in these movements. Because you still need to carefully brush it again according to the above instructions.

The above is an introduction to at what age children should start brushing their teeth. After understanding it, we know that we should start paying attention to oral hygiene after children grow teeth, and after children’s teeth have fully grown, we should pay more attention to the methods and ways of brushing teeth. In order to make children’s teeth healthier, we must let children eat less sweets.