Happy Healthy Teeth
Maintaining dental hygiene is an important life skill to develop in children so they can protect their teeth ready for adulthood.
Doing the activity:
Have fun working together to make up a song to support teeth brushing that lasts for two minutes.
Two minutes is the recommended time for brushing teeth, so why not use a two minute sand timer when brushing.
Consider rhyming words like brush and rush or use the song below (sing to Row, Row, Row Your Boat):
Brush, brush, brush, your teeth, t least two times a day. Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, fighting tooth decay.
What You Need To Know:
To help prevent tooth decay, the recommendation is that we should clean our teeth twice a day with one of those times being before bed. Developing healthy teeth brushing habits in the early years can help lay the foundation for strong healthy teeth for many years. A successful way to engage children in wanting to clean their teeth is to let them choose and buy their own toothbrush and toothpaste.
Try and book an appointment with your local dentist at an early age so that your little one becomes familiar with what they do. Make it fun and ask the dentist for information on how best to look after little teeth.
For information on how best to look after your little one’s teeth or for age-based advice please visit: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/taking-care-childrens-teeth/
Candy Floss’ tips for brushing teeth with your child
- Brush teeth and gums thoroughly with a fluoride toothpaste last thing at night and at least one other time during the day.
- Children under three years should have no more than a smear of toothpaste with fluoride content
- Children over three years of age should use no more than a pea-sized amount of toothpaste with fluoride content.
- Put toothpaste onto a dry brush.
- Brush for two minutes.
- Brush both the top and bottom teeth, outside and inside, back and front.
- Your child should spit out excess toothpaste, but not rinse after brushing.
Children need help with brushing until they are at least seven years old.
