By the age of about seven or eight, kids should be getting pretty good at cleaning their own teeth. It’s certainly a good idea to encourage independent brushing and the continuation of any good oral hygiene routines they’ve already developed. However, you’d be wise to keep checking every so often, to make sure they’re definitely doing it right – especially when once they’ve reached the difficult tween years and are more inclined to take a ‘whatever’ attitude to their teeth (among other things).
 
Here are a few reminders that you might want to share and reinforce:
  • They should brush each tooth with a gentle circular motion and remember to include the gum line. 
  • It’s important to clean the front, back, top and bottom but not with too much force – a gentle scrub does the job. 
  • It takes two whole minutes of brushing to get a proper clean.
  • Brushing properly means that greater amounts of plaque will be removed.
  • Encourage them to spit, but not rinse their mouths afterwards so the fluoride will continue to protect their teeth.
  • At the age of six, it might also be a good idea for them to start using fluoride mouthwash like Aquafresh Big Teeth Mouthwash.
 

Latest

Trending