3 Dental Tips For Avoiding Cavities In Your Child's Mouth

Something that no parent wants is for their child to get cavities.  For this reason, most parents work very hard to take care of their child's teeth. On top of regular brushing and flossing, and regular trips to the dentist, there are certain things that you can do to reduce the risk of cavities even more. Here are three dental tips for avoiding cavities in your child's mouth:

Floss Carefully Where The Gums Come Over Their Teeth

Even if you are diligent about brushing your child's teeth, they can still get cavities up in between their teeth and their gums. These are generally areas between teeth where the gum overlaps quite a bit with the tooth. It is easy for plaque and tartar to build up in these areas because they are harder to get to with both a toothbrush and floss. However, being aware of these areas and paying close attention to them when brushing and flossing, can make a huge difference.

Limit Sugar During The Day

The longer sugar sits on your child's teeth, the more damage this sugar can cause. While it is okay to give your child some sugar, it is important that you give it to them at certain times and that you brush their teeth soon after giving it to them. For example, if you want to give your child some apple juice, give it to them at dinner, rather than throughout the entire day. This minimizes the amount of time that the sugar sits on your child's teeth because you will likely brush them soon after dinner.

Buy An Electric Tooth Brush

Purchasing an electric toothbrush for your child can help you to reduce the amount of cavities that they have in two different ways. For one thing, they will enjoy how grown up and important they feel when brushing their teeth with an electric toothbrush, which encourages them to brush more. Also, because an electric toothbrush has bristles that are constantly rotating, you can brush your child's teeth better, in a shorter amount of time. Since the patience of a child can only last so long, and since some children resist having their teeth brushed pretty heavily, this is an excellent way to get the best brushing in.

By carefully brushing the areas where your child's gums and teeth overlap, limiting the amount of sugar that they are given throughout the day, and also purchasing them an electric toothbrush to use, you can help to reduce their risk of cavities. 

For more information, contact a general dentist near you.