Doesn’t it just make you cringe when your child’s school pictures come back and they look awesome – except for the yellowing smile? Here are reasons why you need to teach your kids from an early age to brush their teeth, and how to do it.

Everything you eat has sugars in it, whether natural or simulated. Left to stay on your teeth, bacteria that come into your mouth will go wild about all those sugars. Eventually, if left un-brushed, your teeth will start wearing away. The bacteria won’t stop at the leftover food; they’ll keep consuming until they get right into your tooth itself. This is the cause of holes in your teeth that need to be filled. Why not save yourself, and your child, the cost, pain and future tooth problems from fillings by brushing properly today?

Toothpaste has only been around for about a century, and before that people would use materials like lemon juice, ashes, ground chalk or even tobacco. Today there are a seemingly endless number of options for flavor, color, whitening toothpastes, and even ones specifically made to appeal to kids with their favorite super heroes or cartoon characters. Just make sure that whatever toothpaste you choose has fluoride on the ingredients list. This is what strengthens your teeth and protects them from bacteria.

It’s a good idea to start even before your baby starts getting teeth. Take a wet facecloth and gently wipe off their gums. This will not only remove the remaining sugars that bacteria love, but will get your child used to having a clean mouth and also used to you doing things in their mouth. This will make it a ton easier in later years when you brush their teeth for them.

If you haven’t been getting your child used to this, start today! Your child will protest the first few times if you haven’t been doing it, so expect that. But brushing them anyways is extremely important. Parents are solely responsible for the care of their child’s teeth until they’re five or six years old. Until that age, or even later for some, children don’t have the physical skills or dexterity with their fingers and wrists to brush their own teeth properly.

How to encourage your child to let you brush their teeth? Make it fun. If brushing seems more like an activity than a chore, they’re much more likely to cooperate with you. Even very young children can get excited about a cute new toothbrush with their favorite character on the handle.

At your regular dental checkups with your local or lethbridge dentist, have the dental care staff give you and your child a demonstration on how to properly brush teeth for the most effectiveness. Often the dentist will have a toothbrush and a set of demonstration teeth he can use to help you and your child learn the proper direction of brush strokes for maximum cleaning.

Proper tooth brushing between checkups at your local or lethbridge dentistry office helps to keep your teeth clean and free of plaque and tarter for a longer time. When kids are older, a regular flossing routine can also be introduced to supplement the everyday brushing.