As a parent, you want to make your child understand the importance of dental hygiene. However, you need not wait until your child is old enough to brush and floss. Ideally, you could begin this process even before your baby cuts the first tooth. Dentists advise initiating your baby to a dental care routine by gently cleaning the gums even before primary teeth start erupting.

Early dental care also helps to guard against baby bottle-tooth decay. This condition occurs in babies who are put to bed with a bottle in their mouth. The sugar in the milk (or juice) contains micro-organisms that attack your baby's teeth. Baby bottle-tooth decay can be quite severe in some children.

Follow these techniques to give your baby an early start on preventive dental care:

• Select a time when your baby is in a co-operative mood. Active co-operation is important, as it will ensure good results.
• Wipe the gums with clean gauze wrapped around your finger; this is sufficient for the proper care of gums at this stage.
• Begin flossing as soon as your baby cuts two adjacent teeth.
• Ensure that your baby does not go to sleep with a bottle of milk, juice, or other sugar containing liquids.
• Early initiation will help your child develop the right attitude toward dental hygiene.

Care for your toddler's teeth

It is best for parents to start and establish an oral health routine with their toddlers at an early age. Their role and guidance in their children’s dental care is very important until at least the age of 5.

Sometimes, parents face many obstacles to simple activities like brushing teeth as toddlers tend to get cranky at bedtime or often forget to brush altogether. ‘Hygiene’ obviously does not mean much to children.

Here are a few tips on making oral hygiene a part of your children’s daily lives:

• Wash early toddler teeth with a wet washcloth or a piece of gauze.
• Rinse their mouths after every meal or after consumption of sugary treats.
• Buy special ‘cartoon’ toothbrushes for reluctant toddlers. Let them select their own.
• Let your children try to brush their own teeth in their own way before you instruct them how to.
• Try to get the whole family to brush together. This makes it special for children.
• Try getting your children a drinking fountain attachment. Kids like this way of washing their mouths.
• Make rinsing and brushing the fun part of a game.

There’s also the fear of the dentist that every child suffers from. As a parent, you need to talk about the visit and try to:

•  Screen dentists to make sure you find one that is child-friendly. You have one opportunity to avoid your kids having a life-long fear of dentists. An “adult dentist” won’t be right for your child.
• Let them watch you get a checkup from the dentist.
• Let your toddler sit in your lap for comfort on the dentist’s chair.
•  Get a morning appointment as children are in a better mood at this time of the day.