One Tooth, Two Teeth and Many More

Used to think that it is alright for the little one not to brush/take care of his milk teeth as they will eventually be replaced with the permanent ones, right? Wrong!

In fact kids should be exposed to proper oral hygiene since young and brushing the milk teeth regularly is an important step to achieving it. According to the pediatric dentists, if the conditions of the gums and initial milk teeth are not good, chances are that the permanent ones will be affected too!

And when is a right time to start brushing one's teeth? When your child starts to grow his/her first tooth and when they are being introduced to more solid food. As the number of teeth grow, the chances of food being stuck on or inbetween the teeth increases.

Now let's take a look at a picture of my cheeky boy again.

Plenty of teeth spotted (checked). Taking more solid food nowadays (checked) Time to introduce toothbrush!

So one fine day..........................

Little Fella made friends with a little blue toothbrush. And this was the easy part. Do baby teeth need to be brushed? Yes! Can a toddler brush their teeth effectively on their own? No!

Daddy & Mummy now have to think of ways to teach little boy to brush his teeth properly. As kids don't develop the muscular control and skill required for good brushing until sometime between the ages of 5 and 7, they will require physical help each and every time.

Toddlers are curious and playful by nature and one good method is to involve them during the parents' own toothbrushing activitiy. They will naturally be excited and will want to try and mimic the same actions, just dont bank on it that they will do a good job.

It is advisable to brush at least twice a day and to avoid sugary contents after brushing, especially during the night brush. Hmm...... Now Little Fella has the habit of going to bed immediately after his night milk feed..... seem like we will have to make some adjustments along the way...

All these information are quite intriguing as it reminded me to constantly update myself on stuffs that I took for granted. Think my earliest memory of brushing my own teeth were during the primary school days where we were told to line up along the school drain to brush our teeth, Ha!