Dr. Kami Hoss – Tips on Getting Your Kids To Care About Dental Health
Getting my kids to care about heir dental hygiene has been something that my husband and I have struggled with for quite some time. Here in Los Angeles and San Diego the dental community is one which is massively dedicated to taking care of your teeth, and you only have to look at some of the smiles around here to see just how much people pay attention. This must happen in our adult lives rather than childhood because my kids are really hard to teach when it comes to oral hygiene. I asked my dentist Dr. Kami Hoss for some tips and they worked wonders, if you want to teach your kids, here’s how.
Explanation
The first thing we started with was to actually explain to our kids the science of the mouth an teeth, and exactly what they are doing when they are brushing their teeth. It is easy for adults to understand the importance of brushing but unless we actually tell our kids what is happening when they are brushing their teeth, they may not have the same understanding. They need to know that they are getting little bits of food and dirt out of their teeth, some don’t realize why they have to scrub.
Choose a Brush
Kids love having something which is theirs and this is why you should always let your kids choose their own toothbrush. This was something which I hadn’t done before and it was amazing to see how much my kids enjoyed brushing their teeth once they had a brush to be proud of. Don’t buy your kids’ brushes for them, let them pick out something which they think is cool.
Brushing Together
Make brushing your teeth something which you do as a family and your kids will be far more inclined to clean their teeth. Each night my husband and our two children head to the bathroom together and get our teeth cleaned, and the kids think that it is absolutely hilarious. This was a great tip and one which the kids really seem to enjoy.
Timings
The reason why kids ask you ‘are we there yet’ on a car journey is because they haven’t yet grasped the passage of time or what a minute means. This is why telling them to brush for at least 2 minutes isn’t going to do much good, because they rarely have a concept of what 2 minutes looks like. A great tip that our dentist gave us was to set a little timer next to the sink, and put 2 minutes on the clock when you start brushing. We did this and the kids can’t take their eyes off the timer, determined to brush their teeth for the full 2 minutes.
These tips have worked wonders for us and I have no doubt that they will greatly help your kids to be a little more interested in getting their teeth cleaned.
Boris Dzhingarov graduated UNWE with a major in marketing. He is the founder of ESBO ltd a brand mentioning company. He is also passionate about meditation and healthy living. You can find articles on such topics at his spiritual blog Dzhingarov.com.