Toothbrushing remains to be the cornerstone of oral hygiene at home. Dentists can't stress enough the importance of this daily regimen to be done efficiently – to remove plaque and food debris and to raise fluoride levels in the saliva, thereby giving us fresh breath and preventing tooth decay and bone disease.
The thing is, toothbrushing, when not done properly, can be useless. For you to get the maximum benefits of fluoride, then it should carried out well. Here are some common mistakes that parents usually make when it pertains to brushing their children's teeth:
1. You give your child a bottle of milk after she brushes her teeth at night.
Probably, this is the most common mistake a parent or a caregiver makes. Even if the parents tell me that they do brush their child's teeth twice a day, the act of bottlefeeding after toothbrushing makes the brushing useless. Not unless, the child brushes her teeth again after she drinks her milk and right before going to bed.
So the right regimen at bedtime should be: drink milk, brush teeth then go to sleep. Almost all the parents I said this to had only one remark – that their child will have a hard time sleeping because their child uses the milk as a pangpatulog. Well … encouraging this habit can most often lead to early childhood caries which in turn, can have devastating effects like pain, malnutrition and life-threatening infections.
2. Your child's toothpaste has no fluoride because she swallows it and fluoride is bad.
Fluoride, according to many experts including the World Health Organization, when exposed to the correct amount is the most effective form against tooth decay. This is because fluoride promotes remineralization of the teeth and makes the tooth more resistant to acid attack.
And studies have also shown that fluoride works best when applied topically than if it is ingested (systemic). Therefore, daily brushing with a fluoridated toothpaste seems to be the best way to increase or maintain fluoride levels in the saliva.
And yes, chronic excess ingestion of fluoride can cause fluorosis (causing pitting and discoloration of teeth), and a huge amount can cause fluoride toxicity and rarely, death. And this is what the anti-fluoride activists are campaigning about. But, for a toxic dose to manifest on a child, he should have ingested about 3 tubes of 150 g! And that’s a lot!
Anything in excess, is of course, harmful. Therefore, we ask that you only use the sufficient amount of toothpaste for your children. For 2 years old and below, only a smear of toothpaste should be placed on the toothbrush and for the 2 – 6-year-olds, a pea size of toothpaste should be used. And for older children, more than a pea size of toothpaste can be used to elevate the salivary fluoride levels. Regulating the amount of toothpaste used also regulates the amount that the children may ingest. Therefore, the harmful effect of fluoride that you so fear, is nil.
3. You should rinse very well after toothbrushing, so no toothpaste gets left behind.
With reasons stated in #2, we want to retain the fluoride in the mouth for as long as we can. Therefore, rinsing out completely all the toothpaste from your mouth, also means rinsing out all the fluoride that you can potentially get.
And so, to maximize the fluoride, we recommend that after toothbrushing, only the bubbles should be spit out, and then you’re done. So no need for you to teach your child how to rinse with water! And just the same, no more eating or drinking after toothbrushing!
4. You don't need to brush an infant's teeth since they are so few.
As long as your child is already eating, then his teeth need to be brushed. Upon eruption, the teeth are already subject to demineralization upon acid attack. Therefore, you need to brush your child’s teeth as soon as they come out. But even as an infant, and still with no teeth, your child’s tongue and gum pads need to be cleaned as well to take out the milk that can accumulate there.
5. The more times you brush your child's teeth, the better.
Not necessarily. As I have said previously, anything is moderation is good for you. If you feel that brushing teeth after every time you eat, will help more in preventing cavities, then think again.
Even if brushing 3-4 times a day can lead to increased fluoride levels in the saliva, too much toothbrushing can wear away the enamel of your teeth. And this can be bad, since thinner enamel would mean your child can be more prone to cavities. We recommend that you brush teeth twice a day, the most important being at night, right before going to bed.
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