Tips for Keeping Your Children’s Teeth Healthy

Posted on: 12 September 2017

To some people, seeing their dentist for a regular check-up and cleaning is an easy and often pleasant experience they look forward to twice a year. With the right oral health habits practiced regularly within your household, you can keep you and your family members' teeth healthy. Here are some tips to help you and your family be ready with excellent dental health for your next dental appointment:

Teach Good Oral Hygiene Habits

As an adult, it is your responsibility to teach your children how to take care of their teeth, and you can help teach them by being an example and practicing it yourself. This should include teaching your family to brush their teeth at least twice a day and floss between their teeth daily. Frequent brushing in this manner will remove the build-up of sticky plaque that forms on your teeth from eating foods and drinking fluids other than water.

Make sure you and your family brush with a soft-bristled tooth brush versus a hard-bristled brush, so you don't remove tooth enamel and cause injury to your gums. In fact, plaque is so soft that it does not require scrubbing to remove it from your teeth but needs to only be wiped from their surface.

It is important to remove plaque each day because it will begin to harden into tartar within 24 to 48 hours. At this point, tartar can only be scraped from your teeth with a sharp tool, usually what your dentist uses. Tartar left on your teeth will increase the chance of you and your family members having cavities form on your teeth, as tartar contains the bacteria that cause decay.

Eat Tooth-Healthy Foods

Keeping your teeth and gums healthy does not only require you to avoid sugary foods and drinks. There are other types of foods that you may be including in your and your family's diets that can hurt the health of your teeth from the inside. Foods high in phytic acid include grains, seeds, legumes, and nuts.

These foods are high in levels of phytic acids that pull minerals away from your body to cause your teeth to be lacking as well. Phytic acid molecules in these foods bind with other minerals in your foods, such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc to block your body from absorbing them. This result in your teeth not getting the minerals they need to stay strong, resulting in tooth decay.

It is recommended to avoid eating these foods in your diet to keep your teeth healthiest. As other foods contain low levels of phytic acid, you can also take a daily vitamin supplement that contains calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc to help prevent any further tooth bone deterioration.

Contact a dental office like Brandywine Dental Care for more information and assistance.