How to Get Your Kids Excited About Dental Care

Having a hard time getting your kids to care about brushing their teeth? You are not alone. Parents and teachers have been finding ways to teach kids about dental care for decades. Here are a few things you can do to help them understand the importance of dental care and get them in the habit of regular dental hygiene:

1. Talk About Dental Health

IWonderful charts and handouts like this one explain what different kinds of teeth we have and what we use them for. This website also talks about what a tooth is made of, what a cavity is, and some other interesting facts. In addition to learning about our teeth, kids can also learn what is healthy for teeth and what is not by doing an activity like this one, which compiles a list of foods that aren’t healthy for teeth.

2. Make Crafts Related to Dental Hygiene

When talking about dental health, you can get kids more excited about what they are learning with a hands-on craft. Several Pinterest boards are full of great ideas, but our favorites include making a paper tooth brush, or letting kids glue cotton ball “teeth” onto red paper. You can talk about the different types of teeth and their roles as kids work on the craft.

3. Offer a Prize

Want to make sure that your kids remember to brush their teeth regularly? A monthly brushing chart lets kids color in a sun every time they brush their teeth in the morning and a moon when then brush their teeth at night. Once they have filled in the whole chart, you can give them a reward (though preferably not a sugary one!)

Have you gotten your kids excited about keeping their teeth clean? What did you do?