Children Dentistry: 3 Tips To Preparing Children For Their First Cleaning

Your children's first teeth cleaning experience can either make or break their feelings towards dentists. Children who had bad experiences often try to avoid going to the dentist afterwards, and may even develop some form of dental anxiety. Helping to ease your children's first experience is important. Here are 3 tips on how you can attempt to do so.

Explain the Importance of Getting Teeth Professionally Cleaned

Children are smarter than you might think. Explaining the importance of professional teeth cleaning can really help your children open up to the experience. Although you might not want to get too technical, you can basically explain that professional teeth cleaning removes hard substances, known as plaque, that form on the surfaces of their teeth. This plaque contains bacteria and germs, and is essentially the "bad guy." By removing the plaque through professional teeth cleaning, they are keeping their teeth healthy.

Engage in Regular Brushing and Flossing for Less Discomfort

If your children do not brush or floss regularly, plaque will build up more quickly. This may make professional teeth cleaning a lot more uncomfortable. To prevent this from happening, make sure that you take time out of your day to help your children brush and floss. Ideally, you should encourage them to brush and floss after every meal. You should also start flossing our children's teeth the moment that two adjacent teeth that touche each other emerge. By keeping their teeth and gums in good condition, the professional teeth cleaning will be less uncomfortable and painful. In fact, they might not even feel the dental tools.

Switch to a Desensitizing Toothpaste Before the Appointment

Get their gums to become less sensitive before the teeth cleaning by switching them to a desensitizing toothpaste that contains potassium nitrate at least 2 to 4 weeks before the appointment. This toothpaste will reduce teeth sensitivity and also strengthen teeth enamel. The ions will clog up pores in the enamel and dentin. There are plenty of desensitizing toothpaste that are made for children and have cute cartoons on the packaging to enhance their brushing experience.

Conclusion

Teach your children good dental habits when they're young, and these habits will continue to stick with them in their adult years. This can help them avoid many unnecessary complications and conditions. Good dental habits and hygiene will also help make your children's first teeth cleaning experience feel a lot more comfortable. Contact a company like Lucky Kids Dental for more info.