Build healthy habits for your teeth

• Brushing and flossing are simple, easy steps that you can do every day to keep your teeth, gums, and whole mouth healthy.  Your mouth is the gateway to your body – we eat, breathe and communicate with our mouths!  Oral health is an essential component of your overall health.
• Poor oral health has been linked to a variety of systemic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, diabetes, and Alzheimer Disease.
• Brushing and flossing your teeth every day helps to prevent cavities, gum disease and bad breath. 
• In children, cavities can lead to significant tooth and mouth pain, which can affect:
  • Sleep quality
  • School attendance
  • Being able to chew food properly, affecting nutrition
  • Being able to speak properly, affecting language development
  • Social well-being and self-esteem
• In adults, cavities and other oral diseases can also lead to significant tooth and mouth pain, which can affect:
  • Sleep quality
  • Work attendance
  • Being able to chew food properly, affecting nutrition
  • Being able to speak properly
  • Social well-being and self-esteem
• Brushing removes plaque/bacteria from the surfaces of the teeth and gum line.  Flossing removes plaque/bacteria from between our teeth and below the gum line, where the toothbrush can’t reach.
  • Plaque is the sticky film that builds up on teeth.  It is made bits of food and sugar left on our teeth after we eat, plus bacteria that live in our mouths.
  • Over time, the bacteria feed on the food and sugar bits, and make an acid.  The acid is strong enough to break down the outer surface of our teeth and make cavities.

• Eating before bed without brushing your teeth leaves food particles on your teeth all night long.
• This leaves an “all-you-can-eat, all-night buffet” for the bacteria in your mouths that cause cavities.
• As the bacteria consume the food particles left on your teeth, they make an acid, which breaks down the outer surface of your teeth and causes cavities.
• At night, the effect is further worsened because your mouths don’t make much saliva while we sleep, and saliva normally helps to fight against the acid that causes cavities. 
• If you’ve already brushed your teeth with toothpaste in the evening and then need a late-night snack, brushing your teeth right before sleep with just water will remove the food particles before you turn in.

• You should help, supervise and brush your children’s teeth for them until they are around 8 years old.
• Children like to brush their own teeth and this should be encouraged.   Between the ages of 6-8 years, encourage your child to gradually take on more independence with brushing and flossing. There are a few different ways to do this:
  • Let your child “start” the brushing, and you finish off
  • Let them do the morning brushing and you do the evening brushing
  • You might alternate days – the child brushes and flosses one day, and the parent brushes and flosses the next day.  Kid-brushing days should still be supervised by parents or caregivers!
  • Floss picks are easier for kids to use, and for parents to floss their children’s teeth
• Brush twice a day for 2 minutes – after the first meal and last thing before bed.
• Brushing before bed is very important – food, sugar, and bacteria sitting on the teeth all night causes cavities.
• Individuals with dexterity issues or disabilities may require more support with tooth brushing, or might need support for a longer period of time.

Prevent kids from swallowing toothpaste

• Children should not swallow toothpaste.
• The best way to prevent your child from swallowing toothpaste is to keep it out of reach, and always help or supervise tooth brushing until children are 8 years old.
• Until children can reliably spit out toothpaste (usually around age 3), use only a smear, or grain of rice-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste.
• Once your child can spit out the toothpaste after brushing, use a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste.

• Your child might cry or resist tooth brushing at some point.  This is common – with patience and gentle persistence, your child will get over it.
• Cheerfully but firmly tell your child that we brush our teeth every day to keep ourselves healthy.  Your child will pick up on your calm and consistent approach.
• Use distractions – sing a song, tell a story.
• Make it a game – brush away/chase the sugar bugs so they can’t make a cavity/hole.
• Use a sticker reward system – do not use food as a reward as they should not eat or drink for 20 to 30 minutes after brushing.
• Use a timer, set it, and let them hold it, brush until the timer goes off.
• Reinforce the importance by having them watch you or a family member/caregiver brush. Then they get their teeth brushed.
• Be a role model and set good oral health habits early on for your child.