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Having trouble getting your kids to brush their teeth? Finding brushing time with the little ones a chore? Dentist and Oral-B spokesperson, Dr. Christopher Ho, explains the importance of good routines as early as possible, in order to set them up for a lifetime of good oral health habits. Dr. Ho shares his tips for making brushing fun so your child can get used to keeping their teeth clean.
Join in
Children love to copy their parents, so it’s a great idea to make brushing a group activity, by encouraging your child to copy you as you brush, along with siblings. Brushing will always seem more fun to a child if it becomes a special activity or game that they get to do with their family. If you’re using a power brush yourself then your child is much more likely to want to try out power brushing for themselves when they are old enough and start off on the right foot when it comes to looking after their teeth.
Use the right tools
To help make the brushing routine more entertaining, I recommend parents look for toothbrushes that are fun and appealing to their child. The Oral-B Stages range, for example, has a great choice of characters to choose from in both manual and power toothbrushes. I encourage parents to invest in power brushes as I find children often struggle with the necessary patience to brush for the full dentist-recommended two minutes and find it tricky to brush the hard to reach places. This is where power brushes are a great help as they do a lot of the hard work for you, and many link to a timer so you can be sure that your child has cleaned their teeth for the correct time.
Turn it into a game
To ensure brushing for the dentist-recommended two minutes, download the Disney Magic Timer app. When you scan any of the Oral-B products from the Stages range with a smart device, it activates a brushing timer which sees an animated toothbrush slowly reveal a Disney image after two minutes. The app contains a variety of images to keep kids guessing which character will appear at the end of their brushing session.
Reward good habits
Rewarding your child with a star every time they brush their teeth for the full two minutes is a great way to incentivise good habits. Treat them to a trip to the park or a simple gift like a story book if they achieve 14 stars by the end of the week. Not only does this give your child an incentive for adopting good oral health habits, it’s also a simple way of reminding them that they need to brush twice daily.
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