Introduction
The ritual of daily oral hygiene and dental care begins with the breaking through of the first milk teeth. But often the youngest children lack motivation and understanding why brushing their teeth is so important. Parents are often at a loss as to how they can make brushing their children’s teeth tasty and which toothbrushing aids are suitable for which age group.
Can children already brush with electric toothbrushes, or are they not suitable for proper dental care? And what about the individually perfect manual toothbrush for each child? What rules do parents have to follow in order to choose the best possible variant for their child?
How do I motivate my child to daily dental care?
Since the motivation for thorough brushing of teeth in children dwindles quickly, thorough education is important so that children understand why brushing is necessary at all. The more the child experiences dental care as a normal part of everyday life and not as an annoying duty that is punished if neglected, the greater the long-term benefit for dental health. Playful elements, such as the figures of caries and bacteria, which became famous in educational books years ago, can help.
Furthermore, new tooth brushing taps can also help to convey fun to children while they virtually chase monsters with their toothbrushes and experience adventures. Keeping a tooth brushing diary with rewards for good performance can also help. The child should understand what the point of brushing teeth is, that it’s not just a scrubbing back and forth, but that the movement must remove food debris to prevent cavities from forming. Because holes need to be drilled and that is exactly what no child wants. Apart from educational books, parents are the best role models, who should also like to brush together with their children so that they can see directly how to brush their teeth properly.
Toothbrushes for children
The variety of toothbrushes for children often leaves parents perplexed, as it creates uncertainty about which toothbrush is the right one for the child’s age and situation. Besides the classic manual toothbrushes, there are also electric and sonic toothbrushes for children. In general, from the first milk tooth onwards, parents start brushing their children’s teeth until they are able to perform the movements with a toothbrush themselves.
Especially in the beginning, when there are only isolated teeth, it is important to clean them regularly to get the children used to dental care. For this purpose there are special toothbrushes for small children, which have a small head and soft bristles to clean the teeth optimally and not to damage the still sensitive gums and soft tissue. A pea-sized portion of children’s toothpaste should be used for this purpose.
The follow-up model, which allows small children to start brushing themselves, is used when the milk teeth are completely present. This condition is reached at the age of two and a half to three years. The toothbrush head has now become minimally larger and the bristles are rounded and still soft to protect the soft tissue.
However, parents should not leave children alone while brushing until they can reach and clean all teeth carefully and safely. There is a special toothbrush for children from around 6 years of age, as the mixed dentition phase begins. The first milk teeth become wobbly and fall out, and the teeth require particularly gentle cleaning.
This toothbrush has long and short bristles integrated to reach and clean the spaces between the teeth. The first permanent tooth is brushed with normal or adult toothpaste. When the last permanent teeth have broken through at the age of 12, children can use a normal adult toothbrush to clean their teeth daily.
Electric toothbrushes are certainly suitable for children, as there are special children’s toothbrushes that are adapted to the needs and abilities of children. It can be considered a good thing that an electric toothbrush for children cleans more thoroughly and efficiently than a manual toothbrush due to the regularity of movement, but a manual toothbrush is also sufficient to keep the teeth free of caries. Nevertheless, an electric toothbrush is the alternative, especially for children who are not yet so dexterous with their fingers and who do not enjoy manual cleaning.
A child’s motor finger skills are usually only sufficient from about seven to eight years of age to clean the teeth sufficiently independently.An electric toothbrush can also turn everyday tooth brushing into an experience through the production of melodies and new types of game apps, thus creating motivation so that the child likes to clean its teeth every day and does not have to carry a burden. Nevertheless, if a child gets along well with a manual toothbrush, this is still completely sufficient to ensure thorough dental care. Especially important: At the beginning of the independent brushing of children up to the age of eight years, parents should check the daily oral hygiene and brush again if necessary.
The variety of electric toothbrushes makes it difficult to decide on the right toothbrush that fits the child perfectly. Care should also be taken to ensure that the chosen toothbrush is appropriate for the child’s motor skills and age to ensure thorough oral hygiene.
- The first models of children’s electric toothbrushes recommend use from the age of three, although this is considered playful in any case, since children cannot yet brush on their own and parents have to re-clean.
- There are also models with a larger brush head that are suitable for use in an age group between four and seven years of age.
These rotate with faster movements than the initial models and are therefore intended for older children with better motor skills. They also have an integrated timer.
- In general, it must be clarified whether the child can cope with the respective toothbrush, in some cases only trial and error helps. For this age group, there are also the first sonic toothbrushes especially for children.
Electric toothbrushes for children are available for between 20 and 40 euros.
In addition to the classic electric toothbrushes for children, sonic toothbrushes are also available especially for children. The sonic toothbrush cleans with ultrasound, which makes much faster movements than a normal electric toothbrush for children. Furthermore, the bristles do not rotate but vibrate.
The sonic toothbrushes for children have a small brush head so that children can easily reach all teeth and the movements are so fast that they massage the gums and cannot hurt them. Sonic toothbrushes for children are also specially designed for the different age groups. The first models are already suitable for children between four and seven years of age. Models are available in stores for between thirty and sixty euros.
