Healthy teeth for life!

The starting point for this is earliest childhood. For this reason you should begin daily oral hygiene procedures with your child as early as possible and familiarise him or her with regular visits to the dentist. The main reasons and focus of a visit to the dentist are prevention and early detection of caries but it is also a good opportunity for the child to become used to the dentist. Prevention is better than drilling! As the milk teeth do not remain in the oral cavity for very long and are replaced by the permanent teeth anyway, they are not always given the care and attention they deserve. The milk teeth form the foundation for a healthy permanent dentition in later life and this is why the first teeth deserve just as much care as the second teeth.

Brushing the teeth with a fluoride toothpaste protects them against caries. Once learnt, the correct brushing technique will help prevent gum disease for life. Children and adults should clean their teeth thoroughly at least twice a day. Up to the age of six, children should brush under the guidance of an adult. Dentists currently recommend the COI brushing method. COI is the abbreviation for chewing surfaces, outer surfaces, inner surfaces; this being the sequence in which the teeth should be brushed.

Dentists advise that children use a specially shaped, child-sized toothbrush which enables all teeth to be reached. Children’s toothbrushes should have medium nylon bristles with rounded tips. Dentists accept the use of children’s electric toothbrushes as an alternative. Electric toothbrushes specially designed for children enable the best possible removal of damaging plaque. The correct brushing technique, with circular oscillating movements, as advised by dentists, is performed reliably from the start. Many children clearly brush their teeth more often and for longer with an electric toothbrush. This is how to brush: inner surfaces, chewing surfaces, outer surfaces. Brush the chewing surfaces of the molars with a gentle back and forth scrubbing motion. Clean the outer surfaces of the teeth using circular movements brushing from red to white (gum to tooth). Brush the inner surface of the molars with a rolling motion from gum to tooth. Then brush the inner surface of the incisors upper and lower, tooth by tooth.

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