Remember when your kids were little and you could monitor their dental care closely? You might have even made charts and given them rewards for how many times they brushed and flossed their teeth. You probably read them books like Curious George Visits The Dentist and Ben Goes To The Dentist. Now that you have teenagers, you may have already realized that you need to take a different approach to their dental care.
Keep Them Informed - One idea is to have a family meeting where each person reports on one aspect of excellent dental habits. For example, one member of the family could report on how bad sodas, candies, and other treats full of sugar are for your teeth. Another person could inform the rest of the family about great substitutes for those cavity-promoting treats. Some good choices are cheese, veggies, nuts, seeds, and hard-boiled eggs, and fruit in moderation. One of you could report on how often a toothbrush should be replaced and what kind of toothpaste includes both cavity fighters and whitening agents.
Make Them Accountable - Another idea is to furnish a list of how much it costs to have dental work done. You might offer to pay for regular office visits where your kid's teeth will be cleaned and checked carefully, while you ask your kids to pay for their own cavity fillings. Perhaps you could still have a reward system for visits where there were no cavities found. Whether you or your child schedules six-month visits with the dentist, consider writing those dates down on a central calendar, and get your kids to note the dates on their own calendars. By doing this, those appointments will certainly not be forgotten.
Special Dental Work - One of the reasons that regular six-month visits to the dentist are so important is that, besides routine care, the dentist will alert you if braces are needed. If that is the case, perhaps your children will prefer invisible braces. Even though they are more expensive than metal braces, your children may be a lot more willing to wear invisible braces which won't draw attention to their mouths. Invisible braces are checked routinely and new aligners are provided as progression is made. Another really good thing about invisible braces is that, because the aligners are removable, it is easy to brush and floss normally. If you opt for metal braces, your kids will have the fun of choosing crazy colors like purple, green and black for their braces.
Consider making dental appointments for your entire family on the same day. If you schedule one appointment in June and the second one in December, your children won't even have to miss school days. Click here to continue reading more about how to care for your child's oral health.
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