Tips on Keeping Your Child's Dental Bills Down
Peter Blanket
Healthy teeth is important. As a parent, it's your responsibility to ensure your child gets proper dental care as early as possible. This way, cavities and other dental problems can be avoided. It's also going to be less costly on you too. Don't neglect your child's dental health, otherwise you can expect huge dental bills when your child's dental problems have become too serious.
Get an Early Start
As soon as your start turns two, start his regular visits to the dentist. Start with a pediatric dentist, a dentist who is trained to handle young children's dental needs. Pediatric dentists have dental equipment that are just the right size for small children, and they often have items in their offices (e.g., crayons, stickers, coloring books) that serve to distract young children as their teeth are being examined. If your child isn't quite two years old yet, you can start taking care of his teeth yourself. If your child doesn't have teeth yet, you can clean his gums using a soft cloth. If you see two teeth touching each other, you can start brushing your child's teeth using toothbrush with very soft bristles. Don't use toothpaste that has fluoride in it, though. There are specially formulated toothpastes for toddlers available so use those. Make sure you only use a tiny amount of toothpaste in every brushing.
When you're putting your child to sleep at night, don't give him a bottle of milk to suck on all night. Frequent (and needless) sucking can cause buck teeth. Furthermore, your child's mouth becomes a fertile breeding ground for cavity-causing bacteria if you leave him with a bottle of milk all night. It won't be long until your child experiences tooth aches.
Regular Trips to the Dentist
Begin taking your child to the dentist even when he doesn't have any dental problems yet. If you do this, you help your child believe his visits to the dentist are pleasant experiences. If you take your child to the dentist for the first time and it's to have his cavities filled or his teeth pulled, your child will fear going to the dentist. He will always associate those trips with pain and discomfort.
Keep an Eye on What Your Child Eats and Drinks
You don't have to be a genius to know that candy isn't good for the teeth. According to recent studies, however, the frequency of eating candies, not how much of them you eat, is the main cause of many dental problems. So at Halloween for example, your child's teeth would be better off if you let them eat their candies in one go instead of piece by piece every day. Don't take this to mean that it's OK for your child to eat a bag of candies in one sitting, however. You should also teach your child to brush his teeth after he eats candies or anything sweet.
Candies aren't the only things you need to watch out for when it comes to your child's dental health. You need to also watch what he drinks, particularly the juices and the sodas. While juice drinks are the lesser evil than sodas, you should still make sure that your child doesn't drink more than 6 ounces of fruit juice every day. It's best if they keep away from fruit juices altogether. If you should give your child fruit juice, though, don't put it in a bottle for him to suck on. Put the juice in a small cup instead.
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