Every year in the UK, hundreds of children have treatment in hospital for dental issues. At Liverpool Dental Spa, we’re passionate about prevention, and we’re eager to encourage good habits from an early age. If you’re a parent, here are 5 ways to teach your children to keep their teeth healthy:

1. Supervise brushing: when you have young children, they may need help with brushing, and when you have older children, they may need that extra incentive to do a good job. Kids tend to whizz a brush around their mouth, and this constitutes brushing their teeth. By supervising them, you can make sure they’re doing a thorough job each time.
2. Play a song: many of us don’t brush for long enough, and this can damage our teeth and gums. Try and make teeth cleaning fun and encourage your children to brush for longer by putting a song on, and challenging the children to brush from start to finish.
3. Arrange regular check-ups: it’s really important for children to see the dentist. If they’re used to having check-ups, they’re much less likely to feel anxious when they get older.
4. Make it fun: many children moan about having to brush their teeth, so try and make it a more appealing use of their time. Make up some games, set challenges, and brush together as a family. You can also get some great child-friendly toothbrushes and toothpastes, which may help them to get a little more excited about cleaning their teeth.
5. Healthy eating: one of the biggest problems facing dentists at the moment is a sugar-heavy diet. Dentists see children all the time who have lots of cavities as a result of their diet. Sugary foods should be given only as treats, rather than as part of the daily diet. Try and reduce your sugar intake as a family by swapping sugary cereals for porridge or whole grain cereals, replacing fizzy drinks with water or sugar-free cordial and avoiding foods like crisps, popcorn, sweets and biscuits, especially between meals.