Brushing your teeth is very important for your oral & overall health, but to kids, it’s just a chore. But it doesn’t have to be! Here are some tips for teaching your kids how to brush their teeth effectively & solidify good dental care habits for a lifetime of healthy teeth.

Step 1. Demonstrate.

To encourage your kids to brush their teeth properly, model good behavior! Brush your teeth at the same time as your child & let them watch you so they can see how it should be done. Explain what you’re doing as you’re doing it & brush in small circles on all surfaces of every tooth. Make sure you show how to angle the toothbrush at 45 degrees to brush the gum line effectively.

Step 2. Guide.

Kids usually don’t have good enough motor control to brush their own teeth well until they are 6 or 7, so until then, you can brush their teeth for them.

Show them how to squeeze a pea-sized amount of toothpaste onto the toothbrush (the ADA recommends using a rice grain-sized amount until your child is three years old) & have your child face the mirror so they can see & you can explain what you are doing. Go slow & show them proper brushing technique.

Once they are old enough to brush their teeth on their own, continue to brush your teeth at the same time as your child to encourage good dental care. If you’re nervous that they aren’t being thorough, trade off for a while. Your child can brush their own teeth in the morning, & then in the evening you can reinforce proper brushing technique by doing it for them.

Step 3. Encourage Them to Be Thorough.

Make sure your child is thorough & continues to brush for the entire two minutes. You can use songs or a timer to countdown, & tell them to make lots of bubbles with the toothpaste.

When the two minutes is up, instruct them to spit the toothpaste into the sink & never swallow it. Then, they should rinse their mouth & the toothbrush. To show them how thorough they need to be, you can use plaque dye tablets after brushing to show them the spots they missed.

Step 4. Floss!

Flossing is a very important part of the dental care routine that you should encourage your child to follow from an early age. To make it more fun & easy, you can use floss picks, because they often come in styles with characters.

As with brushing their teeth, teach your child the proper flossing technique. Wind 18 inches of floss around your middle fingers & pinch the floss between your thumb & index fingers. Gently insert the floss between two teeth using a back & forth motion. Curve the floss around each tooth in a C shape & move it up & down each tooth. You can demonstrate it, guide your child, & eventually let them try it themselves.

Tips & Tricks

40% of kids have cavities by the time they enter kindergarten, so it’s important to encourage good brushing habits early. Even though baby teeth will fall out eventually, it’s important to keep them clean & healthy anyway because they are guides & space holders for permanent teeth.

Here are some tips & tricks for making brushing fun!

• Practice on a model. You can use dolls, an upside-down egg carton, or an old toothbrush & paint & paper.
• Let your child choose their toothbrush & toothpaste! Get them involved in their health. You can also try an electric toothbrush, because those are fun for kids.
• Tell them a story about the sugar bugs that make holes in our teeth if we don’t brush them away.
• The circular movement of the toothbrush is kind of like the wheels on a train! Encourage them to move the train across their teeth.
• Tell them to pretend the brush is a superhero who is rescuing each tooth from plaque monsters.

Many primary & secondary schools across the United States (& in some other countries) require students to have a dental exam from a pediatric dentist or family dentist before they finish certain grade levels.

Most schools will not prevent a child from attending class if they don’t get the required exam, or if a dentist determines their oral health makes them unfit to attend school. However, other penalties may be placed on the child or parents in these situations. For example, if proof of the required dental exam isn’t provided, schools may withhold the child’s report card, which could make it hard for the student to move on the the next grade or matriculate.

The exams required by most schools are mainly focused on finding tooth decay-related problems, or “any other condition that interferes with a student’s ability to chew, speak or focus on school activities.”[source] This type of exam is already part of your child’s regular checkup at the dentist, so if your child already visits the dentist regularly, you will probably not have to make a new appointment for the school required dental exam. School-required exams usually do not involve x-rays (radiographs).

Children’s oral health can have a big impact on their early lives, their later health, & even on their academic success. A report on the implementation of the Illinois law that requires dental exams for schoolchildren stated:

An estimated 51 million school hours per year are lost because of dental-related illness. Poor oral health has been related to decreased school performance, poor social relationships, and less success later in life. Children experiencing pain are distracted and unable to concentrate on schoolwork. Children should enter school free from dental problems. [source]

Some states also collect data (confidentially & anonymously) from the results of these exams. Putting all this data from different schools & grades together gives them a good idea of how well the teeth of children in the community are being cared for.

The state of Illinois requires a dental exam for Kindergarten, 2nd Grade & 6th Grade students. Other states with similar requirements include New York, Kentucky, West Virginia, & Oregon. State-enforced requirements usually apply to all schools, including public, private & parochial (religious) schools. Some local governments (such as county or city) & even some school districts may require dental exams for students even if it isn’t mandated by state law.

If you don’t know whether your child’s school requires a dental health screening, the best way to find out would be to contact the school directly & ask. Children who do not yet have a regular dentist that they go to can often get recommendations from their school of a local pediatric dentist or family dentist who can help.

If your child’s school does require a dental screening, make sure you mention this at your child’s next dental exam so the dentist knows to fill out & provide you with the appropriate form certifying your child has been examined.