Child's Dental Health Care Tips During Holidays

You live in a world full of temptations of all kinds. And the poor teeth bear the brunt of eating all those goodies that you consume. We parents often give in to our children’s eating demands. We buy them chips, candies of all kinds and even biscuits with creams, syrups and so on. And how many of us set the best example by diligently brushing our teeth twice a day? Under these circumstances, I am sure most of you parents would agree when I say, that we would be glad if our children would land up brushing even once but effectively.

Good oral hygiene habits start from us the parents , if we brush our teeth and floss at night before going to bed , so will our children, Trust me on that! So do it for the little one if not for yourself and start today! The first advice I give to all parents is that, they should emphasise on night brushing. I often explain to my patients that we brush in the morning primarily to get rid of bad odour from the mouth and feel fresh. At night we need to clean the teeth well as we need to keep the teeth surface free of any food as otherwise, the friendly bacteria in our mouth get a chance to become un-friendly and start causing erosion of enamel leading to dental caries.

Dental Care Tips During Summer Holidays

A few important points to keep in mind considering the next couple of months will see the summer holidays:

• Insist on brushing twice a day and no compromises on that!! Do it yourself too!
   
• Ask your child to have one healthy food if he wants to have a junk food. One for one, which means in a day,, if he insists on 2 items of junk, he is also forced to eat 2 healthy things! That is what I do with my son as a result when he has had the healthy food, he is left with little space in his stomach to have the junk food. so its a win-win situation for me as a parent. I am giving him the satisfaction of having his favourite food and am also taking care of his dental and general health.
   
• If your child is eating something sticky, eg jelly biscuits ,chips ,namkeen, sweets or candies, tell him that he needs to brush his teeth immediately , if not at least make rinsing a habit. If he is in a particularly un-compromising mood and doesn not want to do either, give him a fibrous fruit to eat like an orange , apple etc.
   
• Its a good idea to complete dental treatments during the holidays ,one can start with dental check ups. I also suggest that any orthodontic work also should be started in the holidays as there can be some discomfort at the initial stage of the treatment. This will gives our precious ones sometime to get adjusted to the braces or any appliance that has been fixed in the mouth.
   
• Children with tendency of dental caries should be given fluoride treatments and pit and fissure sealants wherever necessary. Sealants are a very good preventative and non invasive way of protecting molars and premolars form caries.
   
• Citrus fruits like oranges ,apples ,kiwi are a good source of vitamin C and are very good for dental health as mentioned earlier. But prolonged lemon sucking or orange sucking can exposure teeth to harm. Cheese is also a great source of calcium and phosphorous which is very beneficial. Similarly sweet potato and broccoli too. Onions have a great bacteria killing effect in the mouth. They are most useful when eaten raw.
   
• No harm chewing some gum sometimes for older kids as chewing generates salivawhich washes off bacteria and acid which protects teeth from decay. Although please note that it is not a substitute for brushing or flossing.
   
• Young mothers please avoid filling bottles with milk, juices ,sweetened drinks etc at night. Infants sleeping with bottles at night have a high chance rampant caries.

So keep some of these guidelines in mind and lets make the holiday’s a happy season for our teeth as well ! So parents have a great time these vacations ,spend lots of quality time with your kids andgive them lots and lots of love.