Tips for Great Dental Check UPs for Kids!

Great Expressions Dental Centers can help you find the best dentist for you and your family.  Check out their website and see what they have available near you!  Follow these tips on great habits for kids to keep getting great dental check ups.

Following are some important tips to help your children maintain optimal dental health:

• Teach proper brushing and break bad habits. While your child is young, introduce healthy habits when it comes to their teeth. Teach brushing habits at 3 years old and break thumb-sucking and pacifier by age 4.
• Thumb, finger and pacifier habits. Children who continue these habits after the age of 2 can affect the way the child’s teeth bite together as well as growth of the jaw and bone. GEDC recommends parents talking to their children to get them to stop or have their pediatric dentists talk to them.  
• First visit by first birthday. It’s best if children visit their dentist when the first tooth comes in, usually between 6 and 12 months of age. This helps to establish preventative care and to avoid baby bottle tooth decay and nursing caries.
• Primary teeth (baby teeth). These teeth serve a number of critical functions, including being involved in speech development. So it’s important they’re properly taken care of.
• Limit snacking and eat healthy. Stray from sugary and starchy foods that destroy enamel and stick with drinking water, especially between meals.
• Regular visits with your dentist. Visit the dentist before your child’s first birthday to learn how to clean your child’s teeth and learn the dangers of bedtime bottles and sippy cups. By the time your child is 5, dentist visits should be happening every six months.
• Brush and floss daily. As soon as two teeth touch, it is important that children brush their teeth twice a day and floss.
• Orthodontic evaluation. Children grow quickly and orthodontists are trained to detect problems with the growth and development of the teeth and jaw. The American Association of Orthodontics recommends an orthodontic evaluation by 7 years old. 

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