“Oh, I'm ushing my teeth in back. Gotta get rid of all the plaque…Oh, I'm ushing my teeth all around 'cause I like to hear the squishing sound.” Barney's song “Brushing My Teeth” is geared toward a young audience for a reason. Even a big purple dinosaur knows teaching good dental hygiene should begin at a young age. Here are a few good ideas to help get the point across:
The eggsperiment: Using an egg, toothpaste, and vinegar, kids can learn why it’s so important to ush. Ultimately, kids will see how the toothpaste protects the eggshell from the vinegar just like it protects your teeth from decay. Cool stuff! You can find the eggsperiment at crest.com.
Dental charts: Families are often really busy. So, it’s helpful for the kids to have a reminder to ush their teeth. Dental charts are a great way to go! Just have your kids check off a box each time they ush their teeth. Dental charts come in fun designs, and several free ones are available online.
Tooth ushes and Toothpastes: Using kid-themed tooth ushes (electric, battery, or manual) and toothpastes is a great way to encourage kids to ush their teeth. Who wouldn’t want to use a Barbie, Spiderman, or Cars tooth ush? Toothpaste can have cool themes as well. There are lots of great options from Crest, OralB, Firefly, and Spin ush.
Music: The recommended length of time for ushing teeth is two minutes. To a youngster, those two minutes can seem like a very long time. One good way to ensure kids have ushed for two minutes and to make it fun is listening to a song while ushing.
Start Young: No matter what a parent chooses to do to teach their kids good dental hygiene, the most important thing is to start early. Parents can start ushing their child’s teeth as soon as the first baby tooth eaks through. If good habits begin at a young age, then they are more likely to last into the teenage years and adulthood.
