How to brush a small child's teeth. Instructions for brushing your child’s teeth – how to properly brush baby teeth? Why is this necessary?

With the arrival of a long-awaited baby in the family, parents begin to worry about questions: how to care for baby teeth? At what age should a child start brushing his teeth? How to teach a little person to carry out oral hygiene on his own? Many people turn to their mothers and grandmothers for experience, but we will try to answer all your questions in this article.

There is an opinion among parents that caring for baby teeth is completely unnecessary, they say, they will change, fall out, and that’s it. However, dentists called this statement erroneous.

It should be understood that the enamel of a child’s first teeth is weakened and soft, and therefore is easily exposed to stone and caries. Even if your child is breastfed and does not consume complementary foods, his teeth may be damaged, because all fermented milk formulas include sugar.

Early tooth decay contributes to the spread of infection through the oral cavity throughout the body. Sometimes poor hygiene can cause the development of pyelonephritis, sore throat, as well as a host of dental diseases (candidiasis, cysts, etc.).

Poor oral hygiene can cause various diseases.

Also, tooth damage causes unfamiliar and quite severe pain, can provoke hyperthermia, and prevents the baby from chewing food. If you start the process, even a baby tooth will have to be removed by the dentist, which, by the way, is undesirable, because it can negatively affect the formation of the bite, cause speech pathology, and curvature of the entire row.

That is why it is important for parents to take care of their baby’s oral hygiene in a timely manner.

When to start brushing your teeth

So, when should you start brushing your baby's teeth? The beginning of oral care coincides with the time of the first appearance of baby teeth. As a rule, this period falls for six months to a year, but in each family it is individual.

Of course, the appearance of slightly erupted teeth weakens the immune system, and there is a risk of infection and microbes. But at the same time, the little one’s gums become inflamed, swollen and painful, microcracks and wounds may appear in them, so it is not recommended to start cleaning during this period.

Many dentists also believe that oral hygiene should begin before teeth emerge. They attribute this to the fact that during the feeding process, bacteria and microbes, fungal microorganisms accumulate on the baby’s mucous membrane, which can ultimately cause the development of candidiasis, gingivitis and stomatitis. In addition, early manipulations are more likely to accustom the child to sensations and develop the habit of regularly monitoring the condition of the teeth. Therefore, the appropriate time to start brushing a child’s teeth is considered to be 3-4 months of age.

Suitable hygiene products for children's teeth and gums

Parents should understand that hygiene methods differ depending on the child’s age, presence of teeth, etc.

For example, before teething, you should carefully wet the baby’s gums and tongue to remove the plaque that has formed and remove pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms. The very first teeth should also be wiped with mild products. To do this, you can use the following devices:

We figured out how and with what to brush a child’s teeth before one year of age, however, at one year of age, what kind of hygiene is necessary?

As a rule, after 6 months of life, the baby’s natural expulsion reflex disappears, which makes it possible to perform hygiene using other methods:

1. Finger brush. At this age, a little person will not be able to hold a full-sized brush on his own, much less perform the necessary movements. The soft silicone brush fits onto the parent’s finger, which makes it possible to clean teeth in the most inaccessible corners.
2. Children's toothbrush. It differs from the standard one in having very soft bristles, a rubberized and non-slip short handle. The cleaning surface of such a brush usually does not exceed the area of ​​two child’s teeth.

Before use, the brush should be thoroughly steamed in boiling water, which will kill possible “industrial” microbes, excess odor, and will also further soften the bristles.

In addition to the brush, you must use a suitable paste, which is also produced according to the age category.

1. Gel paste(without taste, with the aroma of milk) is used for infants who do not receive complementary foods. In no case does it contain active cleaning substances or abrasive components that can negatively affect young enamel.
2. Regular baby toothpaste. Suitable for older children who have switched to adult nutrition. As a rule, it also has a gel base and a pleasant fruity taste.

How to brush your baby's first teeth correctly

Teach your child that hygiene should be done at least 2 times a day - in the morning after meals and in the evening before going to bed. The duration of cleansing procedures should be 2-3 minutes, but for infants the procedure may take less time.

What are the technical aspects of proper teeth cleaning:

Learning to brush your teeth yourself

How to brush a child's teeth at 2 years old? At this age, you can begin to show how to brush your teeth yourself.

Of course, you can introduce your child to hygiene only by personal example, because they try to imitate us in everything.

Take your little one into the bathroom early in the morning, hand him a bright and beautiful brush, help him squeeze out the aromatic baby paste and, of course, sit near the mirror. Children are curious to watch their movements and also control the process.

Children are curious to watch their movements in the mirror.

It is very easy to introduce your child to the procedure using the following tricks:

1. Find your baby's favorite song or rhyme and teach him to make cleansing movements to the beat. Or you can come up with a poem yourself about the benefits of brushing teeth and tongue, and how grateful they will be to the baby for the care provided.
2. Brushing teeth can become for a child an act of destroying evil carious monsters that attack the mouth and cause disease.
3. Demonstrate the process on your child's favorite doll, soft toy, or even car. Let him know that oral care is very important in the fight against germs. Therefore, he must take care of his teeth himself and “help” his toys.
4. Children also love sports very much. Go into the bathroom as a family and race to brush your teeth. But, of course, parents should give in and lose.

Remember that early oral hygiene has a positive effect on the formation of teeth and instills healthy habits in the baby.

Most parents pay great attention to the health of their child and his personal hygiene.

Issues of oral health in general and teeth in particular occupy a special position.

Do you need to brush your baby teeth every day?

Usually, babies' first teeth appear when they reach 6-8 months of age. Both dentists and pediatricians give parents the same useful advice: you need to take care of your child’s teeth - that is, brush them - from the moment they erupt. Those parents who are sure that it is not worth taking care of baby teeth at all, because they will soon fall out anyway, are completely wrong. After all, the health of a baby’s molars directly depends on the condition of the very first baby teeth.

You need to take care of your teeth from the very beginning. First, use a small piece of gauze soaked in boiled water.

Dental wipes that are made from non-woven material and impregnated with xylitol and flavorings are excellent. Xylitol is a polyhydric alcohol that is absolutely safe for the baby and has antiseptic properties. It can be used both at the “pre-dental” stage and later, when teeth have already appeared. Using such napkins does not cause any difficulties: this napkin is placed on the mother’s index finger and the baby’s cheeks and teeth must be treated twice a day.

Then you can use special brushes that mom or dad put on their fingers. And after that, you can offer your baby a real toothbrush (like the parents’) with a small head and soft bristles. When the baby is a little older, he can brush his teeth on his own.

When should you start brushing your child's teeth? How to clean them correctly?

There are a few simple rules that parents can follow to help their child grow healthy teeth.

So, the first toothbrush is a piece of gauze, which should be moistened with warm boiled water. At first, only water is taken, but over time you can add a little salt so that bacteria do not multiply on the surface of the child’s teeth.

After celebrating your first birthday, you can buy your first toothbrush with rubber spikes.

Using a brush with soft artificial bristles is only permissible when the toddler has grown more than 12 baby teeth.

Before the baby has reached the age of two, it is not permissible (!) to use any toothpastes.

When should you start brushing your child's teeth? Choosing the right toothpaste and helping kids

It is recommended to brush children's teeth daily in the mornings and evenings. Exactly the same as for adults. There is only one difference: you need to use the right toothpaste. Depending on the age of the baby, you need to choose the appropriate composition of the paste correctly and as carefully as possible.

If the little one is not yet three years old, a paste that does not contain fluoride is suitable, because children usually swallow it.

Being very small, babies - due to the fact that their motor skills have not yet formed - cannot brush their teeth on their own. Therefore, mothers and fathers are strongly recommended to help brush their child’s teeth. This should be done until the baby learns to take good and proper care of his teeth, and the parents are confident about the health of their child.

Important point (!): You need to teach your child to rinse his mouth after every meal. It is of great importance whether the baby knows how to not only take care of the oral cavity, but do it correctly. Moms and dads must make sure that daily brushing of teeth becomes a habit for the child.

We begin to brush the child's teeth. How to properly care for a one-year-old baby's teeth?

Children at such a young age need constant oral hygiene, regardless of how many teeth they have already “hatched.” If the mother begins to take care of her teeth from the very moment they begin to erupt, then when the little one reaches one year old, he will already get used to the fact that his oral cavity is constantly clean.

At one year old, your baby can already be provided with his own toothbrush, which has rubber spikes.

Children should brush their teeth with circular and wave-like movements very carefully and accurately. These precautions are necessary in order not to damage the enamel of the baby’s teeth, which is still so delicate, and not to cause injury to the gums. If the baby resists and does not allow you to brush your teeth, it will be more convenient to use a toothbrush with elastic bristles. This brush can easily be placed on the finger of one of the parents. Another option is to use ordinary gauze, soaking it in a saline solution before use.

When should you start brushing your child's teeth? Teeth cleaning techniques

There are quite a lot of such techniques. But if the baby does not have any specific diseases of the oral cavity or gums, you can use the most common method. First, the outer surface of the teeth of the upper jaw is cleaned, starting from the left edge. The correct way to position the brush is parallel to the floor and move it like a broom - in short movements from the gum downwards.

After this, we pay attention to the chewing surface. Here it would be correct to use reciprocating movements. And then - on the palatal part of the teeth. It is not at all necessary for parents to carefully scrub with a brush or force their grown-up children to do the same. After all, it is very easy to damage the enamel, which is so thin. In addition, the baby’s impressions after such a procedure will not be very pleasant.

Any unpleasant sensation while brushing your teeth can lead to the fact that this event will be simply torment for both the child and his parents.

The same applies to the procedure for cleansing the surface of the tongue, because many adults, having tried to do this as carefully as possible and involuntarily causing a gag reflex in the toddler, subsequently do not want to repeat a similar experience. But this is completely in vain, because this is where a lot of microorganisms live.

When should you start brushing your child's teeth? Lower jaw. Mouth rinse

The baby’s lower jaw should be cleaned in exactly the same way and in the same order as the upper jaw. When the whole process has come to its logical conclusion, you need to ask the child to clench his teeth (or help him do this if he is still very small). It will be very useful to massage the teeth along with the gums from left to right with simple circular movements.

After everything, you need to rinse your child’s mouth with warm boiled water. Parents are obliged to ensure that their children pay special attention to this final stage, because any toothpaste, even one made for children, is the fruit of chemical technology. It is better not to leave it in your mouth for a long time.

Of course, it is also clear that there is no point in explaining all the above-mentioned subtleties of such an important process for a child’s health as brushing teeth to a child in words. Parents will brush the teeth of the youngest children, but older children need to be shown by example repeatedly until they learn the procedure for the necessary actions. At the very beginning it is more difficult. It is especially difficult to teach your baby not to swallow water after he has rinsed his mouth.

In every family, adults should try to find a special approach that would serve as motivation for the daily ritual of brushing the child’s teeth. You can come up with different stories and compose poems, accompanying each movement with a brush. You can brush your teeth with some kind of toy, preferably your baby’s favorite one. If this procedure is exciting for the child, then he will be happy to look forward to the next teeth cleaning and will not feel afraid.

Regular oral hygiene for your child will be an excellent guarantee of success in preventive measures against caries and various complications. But this is so important for the health of a child’s baby and molar teeth.

The time to start brushing your baby's teeth depends on the appearance of the first tooth. After all, decayed or lost teeth interfere with good nutrition and speech development.

Useful information from a pediatrician about...

It is necessary to brush your child’s teeth from the moment the first tooth appears. The procedure is carried out twice a day. If you start early, your baby will get used to the brushing process faster.

You can use toothbrushes. They should be very soft and have no more than three rows of bristles.

Throw away any toothbrushes that become rough around the edges or are more than 2 to 4 months old, because pathogenic bacteria begin to grow and multiply on such brushes.

A baby's first tooth will most likely be the lower front tooth. In most cases, it appears when the baby is about six months old. However, the time at which the first tooth emerges can vary greatly. Some newborns already have one tooth! Other children don't develop teeth until they are one year old.

The child will eventually have 20 baby teeth. All this should happen by the time the baby turns 2.5 - 3 years old.

It is best to continue brushing your child's teeth until he or she is at least seven years old. By this age, the child should be able to do this independently.

Do I need to clean my baby's gums before teething?

Even before your baby's first tooth appears, it's a good idea to get into the habit of wiping his gums with gauze or a soft, damp cloth during bath time. You don't need to use any toothpaste. Simply wrap your index finger in a cloth or gauze and gently wipe your baby's gums.

Bacteria in the mouth usually cannot harm the gums until teeth emerge. But sometimes it can be difficult to determine when teeth begin to emerge, so it's advisable to start caring for your baby's oral cavity early.

Introducing your child to oral care should make the transition to brushing their teeth easier later on.

Choosing the best toothpaste for your child

Nowadays, the variety of toothpastes, different brands and flavors specifically designed for children, has increased significantly. Having many options can make choosing the best toothpaste for your child's dental health more difficult than expected.

Choosing the right toothpaste is a significant factor in establishing good oral hygiene habits and maintaining a healthy child's smile.

When giving your child a snack between meals, choose tasty options such as cheese or vegetables.

To really give your child the best chance of healthy teeth, do following:

1. Offer your infant only breast milk, infant formula, or chilled boiled water as drinks.
2. Avoid fruit juices, flavored milk and carbonated drinks. They usually contain a lot of sugar and cause tooth decay.
3. At about six months, teach your baby to drink from a glass. When he is a year old, try to wean him off using a bottle. Give only milk or water to drink at night.
4. Provide your child with a healthy, balanced diet. Encourage him to enjoy tasty foods such as vegetables and cereal. Don't add sugar to your food.
5. If you use prepared baby foods, make sure they do not contain sugar or sweeteners. Remember that other sugars, such as fructose and glucose, are just as harmful to your child's teeth as regular sugar.
6. If your young child needs to take medications, choose sugar-free options.

When you teach your children to brush their teeth, your dental office can help. Developing good oral hygiene habits will help children maintain healthy teeth for years to come.

Daily oral hygiene has become an ineradicable habit, and brushing our teeth twice a day allows us to avoid medical and social problems. But when should you start taking care of your baby's teeth? Do I need to take care of my baby teeth, since they will fall out anyway? At what age will a child need a toothbrush?

The importance of the prenatal period

Taking care of children's dental health should begin during pregnancy. The formation of the jaw and all “changes of teeth” occurs at week 5, and their development continues throughout pregnancy.

Your baby will have healthy baby and molar teeth if you eat a healthy and balanced diet, and your diet includes plenty of foods rich in fluoride, calcium and phosphorus. A pregnant woman should take multivitamins from the first days and eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, meat and dairy.

Future dental problems in children can result from:

1. A pregnant woman taking medications that damage the buds of teeth.
2. The occurrence of hypoxia during pregnancy.
3. Stress or colds of the mother during the formation of teeth.
4. Brief toxicosis during tooth formation or long-term toxicosis throughout most of pregnancy.
5. Prematurity.
6. A number of diseases in the first year of life.

The importance of dental care

Despite the promotion of hygiene and health care, which has lasted for decades, about 90% of first-graders already have teeth affected by caries. The root of this problem is insufficient oral care for children. Most parents are convinced that baby teeth do not require careful care, because they are not permanent.

This attitude often leads to serious consequences:

• Carious destruction from milk teeth is transmitted to the rudiments of molars, affecting them too;
• the affected baby tooth will sit in the gum longer, preventing the birth of the molar, thereby bending the trajectory of its growth.

To avoid painful and aesthetic problems with teeth, you need to start caring for them in a timely manner and teach your child to brush them themselves twice a day.

Baby dental care

Caring for your baby’s teeth will not only consist of mechanical cleaning: it is important for you to form the correct bite in your baby and provide his body with a sufficient amount of minerals.

1. Breast milk contains the ideal amount of fluoride and calcium needed for baby's teeth development. Artificial mixtures are also enriched with minerals.
2. Sucking at the breast, during which the baby has to extend the jaw and tense the muscles, forms the correct bite. For an artificial one, you will have to choose a nipple for a bottle with a hole that will force the baby to work while feeding.
3. To satisfy the sucking reflex and muscle development, most pediatricians recommend letting the baby suck on a pacifier for a short time. This calming attribute must be used strictly for its intended purpose; it is correct to remove it from the mouth immediately after the baby stops being capricious or falls asleep. After a year, the child should be gradually weaned off the pacifier, since at this age it can already negatively affect the formation of the jaw.
4. It is correct to start feeding children complementary foods right away with the help of a spoon. In this case, you need to provoke the baby to reach out with his lips to the cutlery with mashed potatoes or porridge, so his jaw will move forward and become in the correct position.
5. When your baby masters pureed complementary foods, switch to dishes made from finely chopped vegetables and fruits. Chewing pieces at this age creates the required load on the jaws and facial muscles, which contributes to their proper development. Subsequently, you will begin to give the baby pieces of raw fruit, baby cookies and crackers.
6. Chewing solid food, in addition to developing muscles and ligaments, helps cleanse the teeth, so fresh fruits will act like a toothbrush, removing plaque.
7. Do not give your baby sweet teas and compotes, and do not buy confectionery for him. Everything your baby eats must be made without the use of sugar. It is the sweet environment that forms a destructive plaque, which leads to children’s teeth deteriorating and turning black.
8. Even the presence of a pillow affects the formation of a child’s jaw; doctors recommend placing the baby on a folded diaper or a very flat pillow for at least one year.
9. Make sure that the baby does not sleep with his mouth open, this will not only lead to improper development of the jaw. In this position, children breathe through their mouths rather than their noses; the mucous membranes of the mouth and respiratory tract become dry and cease to perform their protective function, allowing severe infections into the body.

First teeth

Nature took care of cleaning the first teeth of babies. Getting rid of infections and accumulated bacteria that enter the mouth occurs due to strong salivation during the teething process. But it’s still better to play it safe and remove plaque from emerging teeth after feeding:

1. In children's stores you will find small silicone tips for an adult's finger. With their help, you can clean plaque from the baby’s first teeth.
2. To remove plaque from a baby's first teeth, you can use gauze soaked in boiled water and wrap it around an adult's finger.

After eating, you should brush not only your teeth, but also your baby’s tongue, cheeks and gums, removing plaque from them.

First toothbrush

At six months, a baby may have its own toothbrush. Of course, a child’s model should differ from an adult’s in a number of parameters:

• a baby’s toothbrush should be 2-3 times more compact than an adult’s;
• the product should have soft rounded bristles that will not damage the baby’s delicate gums;
• a children's toothbrush should have an ergonomic handle;
• the base on which the bristles are attached should have rounded contours.

In the second half of the year, it is better to brush baby teeth without using toothpastes, since the baby will most likely swallow it rather than spit it out during the procedure. Although the composition of children's oral hygiene products meets all standards, it is still better to avoid such situations. At first, a dampened toothbrush is quite capable of effectively removing plaque.

Over time, using your example, you will show how to brush the teeth of a one-year-old child, he will copy you and will soon begin to properly care for his oral cavity.

Question about silvering

In recent years, calls have increasingly been heard to protect infants' milk teeth with silver plating. Proponents of this procedure argue that spraying inhibits the development of incipient caries and prevents its occurrence on healthy tissues.

The painless procedure of applying silver nitrate to the cleaned surfaces of baby teeth takes no more than five minutes and is carried out in three stages. Of course, even the most capricious patient can withstand such an easy procedure.

1. Silver plating stops destructive processes in tooth tissues. But it simply “preserves” the tooth until the baby grows up and can sit quietly in the dentist’s chair while the drill and filling are in use, or until the tooth falls out on its own.
2. Silver nitrite is not toxic, but it has an unpleasant taste, and if it gets on the mucous membrane, the composition can cause burns.
3. The protective layer dissolves over time under the influence of food acids and requires reapplication.
4. Silvering is indicated only for the prevention of healthy teeth or those on which the process of demineralization has begun - it looks like white spots. This procedure will no longer save areas affected by caries, but will only aggravate the situation, provoking the penetration of the destructive process to the molars.
5. Silvering of baby teeth permanently changes their color - they turn black. Of course, in a child who will subsequently lead an active social life in kindergarten and in clubs, such parental “concern” for his health at the expense of his beauty can cause complexes.

Thus, silvering does not heal children's teeth. This is why it is important to start quality oral care for your baby in a timely manner. Only prevention in the form of daily hygiene can protect the baby from caries:

• See your pediatric dentist every three months;
• remove plaque from the baby’s teeth using gauze or a silicone nozzle after feeding;
• after six months, the baby should have her own toothbrush, and it would be correct to replace it with a new one every three months;
• Explain how to brush your teeth to a one-year-old child and always supervise the process.

Attention, all parents of kids who doubt that it’s time for their children to brush their teeth and decided to put it off until later:

According to the unanimous opinion of most dentists, it is necessary to start brushing your teeth from the moment the first tooth erupts!

Until recently, I believed that a healthy diet (an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables, berries +, a complete absence of synthetic sugar in the diet) was a guarantee of strong and healthy teeth. I also believed that it was inappropriate to brush teeth at an age when babies do not yet know how to spit out toothpaste.
Reality corrected my opinion - dark spots began to appear on my daughter’s incisors. This is despite the fact that the summer season was in full swing and I was carefully monitoring the variety and quality of food.

Everyone knows about the dangers of sweets for teeth, but not many people know about the dangers of fruit and vegetable acids. It turns out that in addition to a large amount of sugars, fruits and some vegetables contain a large amount of acids, which have a very destructive effect on tooth enamel. Therefore, after each fruit and vegetable, you must at least give your child a drink of water. Read more information about caries and breastfeeding.

When to start brushing your child's teeth | Use of toothpaste up to 2 years

I have always really wanted to minimize the amount of chemicals entering my child’s body. But in our case, it turned out that toothpaste is not something that can be abandoned without consequences. Of course, there are lucky ones who spend their days munching on sweets and have a Hollywood smile, but there is no guarantee that your child will be one of them.

After identifying the first caries, we introduced regular brushing of teeth with a soft-bristled brush dipped in water. After a couple of months, our caries increased significantly. On our next trip to the dentist, we had a professional cleaning. She showed that a strong plaque had formed on the teeth, which cleaning with water could not cope with. Of course, under the coating the harmful bacteria were protected and the process of destruction was in full swing, despite our cleaning.

It turns out that The effectiveness of brushing teeth without toothpaste is very low In addition, the bristles of a toothbrush without toothpaste can cause micro-scratches on tooth enamel. Timely use of toothpaste in our case could prevent the occurrence of caries, or, in extreme cases, slow down its progression.

If you are trying to minimize the amount of chemicals, do not refuse to use toothpastes; it is better to pay attention to their composition.

The amount of toothpaste is also very important. Many people know the dosage “about the size of a pea”; this large dosage is recommended for preschoolers. For children who do not know how to fully rinse their mouths, the recommended dose of paste is - no more than a grain of rice!

Currently we use “R.O.C.S. Baby for the little ones." It is safe to swallow and does not contain: fluoride, parabens, sodium lauryl sulfate, dyes, antiseptics and fragrances.

When should you start brushing your child's teeth? Choosing a toothbrush

In fact, there are a lot of children’s brushes on sale now, and finding a quality one is quite easy:

• when most of the mouth is toothless and the gums are “naked”, choose a brush with soft silicone bristles;
• From the age of one, when the mouth is already filled with teeth, we switch to a small brush with soft bristles.
• As the child grows, choose a larger brush so that it is convenient to clean.

As a result of searching for quality accessories for the hygiene of the first teeth, we discovered the following:

Let your kids have strong teeth and beautiful smiles!

Other publications on this topic:
Fresh (2014) of the American Academy of Pediatrics - the official view of Americans on dental hygiene.
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