The best way to protect your child from tooth decay is by educating them about it, and teaching them the importance of following oral hygiene measures. Once the child understands the main concept, your job is half done. Kids do not understand the language of grown-ups. It can be tough to teach them something, as one has to get down to their level. It requires a tremendous amount of patience to explain and teach something to a child. The good thing is that once they pick up a habit, they will continue performing it, even into adulthood. Generally, to teach something to a kid, we try to add the element of fun so that kids enjoy what they are learning.

You must explain certain facts about dental decay to your child, so that if they experience any of those problems they can approach you directly for a solution. First of all, you must tell your child what tooth decay is and what the symptoms are. You must tell how the tooth decay appears in the initial stages and what problems it can cause. While explaining, you can use terms like “tooth bug” for dental caries, and other such words for better comprehension by the child. The importance of the milk tooth must be conveyed to the child.

You can start off by saying that if your tooth is eaten off by the tooth bug, it will have dark spots coming all over it. Later, there will be pain in these when you want to chew something (especially hard objects) on that side. The pain will take away your sleep at night, as the pain shoots up at nights when you are lying down trying to sleep.

You can also add facts like “Children with decayed teeth do not look good when they smile.” This will definitely have a great impact on their minds if you show the photos of other kids while explaining. There are plenty of educational videos available on the Internet that show the ways to brush and use other oral hygiene measures. These videos can be brought into use for the education of your child on tooth decay.

Decayed teeth are the reason for bad breath in most kids. The child must be told about bad breath caused by dental decay as well. Parents must explain to the child that the decayed tooth should be treated at the earliest opportunity, otherwise they may end up with swelling all around the decayed tooth.

You need to explain the ill-effects of sticky, sugary and starchy foods on the teeth to your child. This will make them realise why dentists advise reducing the number of sweets and chocolates consumed per day. The child must be taught to rinse the mouth with sufficient water to flush out any food debris stuck to the teeth after eating sticky foods.

Once the child understands the destructive effects of the “tooth bug”, he/she will be ready to learn the ways to stay away from it. Oral hygiene measures like brushing twice daily can be taught by parents themselves, or professional help can be sought if required.

Contact a dentist or dental hygienist at Water Brook Dental in Washington DC for a dental check-up and other dental needs. Water Brook Dental has two locations in Washington DC. The Columbia Heights location is very  conveniently located to Downtown DC, Northeast DC, Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, U-Street Corridor, Mount Pleasant and many other parts of Washington. The Eastern Ave NW location is conveniently located to Downtown Silver Spring, Takoma Park MD, Silver Spring MD, Colesville, and other parts of Maryland as well as Northern Virginia and other parts of Virginia.