You’ve been teaching your children the best ways to care for their smile at home by brushing and flossing. However, this routine can begin to feel like a chore for young children. It’s always a good idea to try to make this important regimen more fun. Here are 5 ways that you can add some excitement to oral hygiene for your family!

Making Choices

Having some choice involved with their oral hygiene routine can help make brushing time more exciting. Next time you are at your local drug or grocery store with your child, let them pick out their own dental tools. They may be able to find a kid’s toothbrush with their favorite superhero or cartoon character on it. There are also some fun toothpaste flavors to choose from. You may like peppermint, but it may be too strong of a flavor for your child to enjoy.

Brushing Chart

To help your child keep track of their brushing and motivate them to do it more often, try setting up a chart where they can mark their progress. This could be a whiteboard with erasable markers or a calendar with a pack of stickers. Every day, when they fulfill their dental hygiene needs, they can add a new, fun sticker to the calendar.

Play a Song

To ensure that your child is brushing long enough, and to make the process more fun, play a two-minute song or video when they brush their teeth. This will help to make this daily ritual fly by faster, make the process more entertaining, and confirm that they are taking enough time to clean their smile thoroughly.

Set an Example

Try brushing your teeth with your child. This way, you are setting an example of why dental care is so important. When you brush together every morning and night, both you and your child will be more likely to stick to the routine and follow through with excellent oral hygiene. After all – there is no reason to be alone when we all need to be following these practices. The more the merrier!

Make Brushing a Game

Set a timer, and then have your children brush their teeth for two minutes. After the timer is up, you can check your kids’ progress with plaque-disclosing tablets. When your child chews on one, it will highlight all of the areas that they missed when brushing. Then, your child is challenged to brush away all of the color as thoroughly as possible. This way, your kids can visually see their teeth becoming cleaner with some fun colors involved!

Dental hygiene is extremely important, but it doesn’t need to be boring. Try using some of the tips listed above to bring some excitement into dental care!

About the Practice

At Fort Dental, We’re led by three dentists who want only the best for young families. That’s why we’re proud to share a building with a pediatric dentistry practice! This means that your little one can get the dental attention they need, and you don’t even need to travel to a new location! By making dental care more fun for your kids now, you can encourage a lifetime of excellent oral hygiene habits. To learn more about oral hygiene or to schedule an appointment for your child at Trinity Pediatric Dentistry, call (682) 327-1133.