Huffman Smiles

Blog

Dental hygiene tips for healthy teeth & gums

When Should My Child Start Using Toothpaste?

One of the most fantastic feelings for new parents is when their baby’s first tooth pops through the gums. And why not? It’s one of the major milestones in parenting. But with that comes greater responsibility as a parent too. You need to ensure your child gets into the proper dental care routine right from the beginning in order to have healthy oral health. The point of discussion here is the right age for your child to start using toothpaste. Not just this, we’ll also talk about the right toothbrush, the right amount of toothpaste to be used as per your child’s age. So let’s get started. Shall we?

The right age to start using toothpaste:
While you may start using a toothbrush once your child is between 8-12 months old, it is advisable to wait until your child turns a minimum of 18 months in order to use toothpaste. Start using a pea-sized amount of toothpaste for your child and continue it until the child is 4 years old. To inculcate a good dental habit right from the beginning, it is essential to ensure your child brushes at least twice a day. To ensure they do not swallow the toothpaste, it is important to keep an eye on them while they are brushing. Monitoring is also essential to ensure teaching them proper brushing techniques.

Like other parenting responsibilities, taking care of your child’s dental health can also sometimes get challenging. Such as, your child might not want to brush twice a day and we all know for a matter of fact that convincing a child into practicing good habits often takes a lot of wise and fun tactics. To start with, try using those colorful toothbrushes specially designed for kids. They are fun to use and are appealing to kids. Not just the brush, these days you can experiment with various flavored toothpaste as well. These practices might help encourage your child to form healthy dental health practices.

Lastly, all these practices need to be backed by a proper visit to the dentist once every six months to ensure your child’s healthy dental health. Also, taking care of your child’s dental routine is one of your parenting roles’ major milestones. So don’t forget to take a lot of pictures, videos and most importantly don’t forget to have fun and treasure every part of memory during this parenting stage.

Book Appointment to find out which treatment might be best for you.