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Managing a family’s health can be a real handful – especially when you have multiple children. There are all sorts of daily routines and steps that need to be in place in order to maximise wellbeing, as well as professionals to visit to check and keep on top of your health. One area you need to focus on is your family’s dental practices and routines. Keeping on top of this will help you all to maintain healthy teeth, gums and smile as much as possible! But where to start? Here are a few suggestions that should be able to get the ball rolling when it comes to coming up with the ideal family dental routine.

 

Choosing a Family Dentist

 

First things first, you’re going to have to make sure you and all of your little ones are registered with a good dentist. Choosing a reliable, experienced and qualified family dentist will help to make these visits as straightforward, stress free and enjoyable for your little ones as possible. All having the same dentist can make your life a lot easier for you and your schedule and general organisation too. If you are all registered in different places, you’ll have multiple dentists to call to make appointments and multiple dentists to actually visit. Instead, if you all have the same dentist, you can make one call to book everyone in with consecutive appointments. This is less time consuming and can make it more of a family activity rather than something your kids will each feel they’re facing alone. Search around for family dentists. These specialists are trained in the same way as general dentists, having completed an undergraduate degree and attended dental school. The difference is they tend to have more experience working with children.

 

Schedule a Check Up Once Every Six Months

 

Once you’ve found your family dentist, it’s time to make sure that you schedule appointments properly and frequently enough. It’s recommended that everyone visits the dentist at least once every six months. It’s also recommended that you schedule a visit with your hygienist within the same time frame. Book all of your appointments well in advance. This will help you and your family to secure consecutive appointments, no matter how many of you need to attend. Making sure that you and your children visit your dentist once every six months will give the professionals a good chance to survey your mouths and determine whether anyone needs further treatment. If everything is well, you will simply schedule your next visit and leave. If any issues do arise, such as cavities, root canals, the need for teeth replacement or anything else, your dentist will be able to schedule a further appointment for the family member and will resolve these issues in that appointment.

 

Implement Healthy Daily Habits

 

You should implement a healthy daily teeth cleaning schedule for each and every member of your family. This will ensure that all of your little one’s teeth are cleaning, reducing the risk of them developing unnecessary dental problems. Start out by ensuring your little ones have all the dental cleaning equipment they need. This should include a child’s toothbrush and child friendly toothpaste. You can then teach them how to clean their teeth thoroughly. Make sure that your children brush their teeth twice a day, preferably morning and night, for roughly two minutes each time. There are all sorts of fun timers you can use to help them time this – almost making it a game. As soon as your children’s teeth begin to fit closely together, you should make sure to floss their teeth for them and teach them how to safely floss their teeth themselves.

 

Reduce Sugar

 

Sure, a little sugar in a child’s diet is fine. After all, healthy behaviour all comes in moderation. But you should make sure that your child’s diet doesn’t have excess levels of sugar. Not only is this important for their general health, but it’s absolutely essential for their dental health too. The bacteria in our mouths feed on sugar, and removing the majority of it from your little one’s diet can reduce the amount that stays on their teeth and that can lead to issues such as decay and cavities. There are all sorts of sugar free options of snacks and meals on the market nowadays and you could consider healthier sources of sweetness for your little one, such as whole fruits. This really can make all the difference!

As you can see, there are a number of steps you can take to come up with a healthy dental routine for your entire family. Hopefully, each of these steps outlined above should help you along the way and make a truly positive difference!