Healthy children's teeth

Home dental care should begin for children when the first tooth breaks through into the mouth. Parents should carefully clean even those very first teeth once or twice a day with a soft brush made for this age group. As the children get older, a children's toothpaste should be used as well. What matters is to involve children actively in brushing as early as possible. Even if they only hold the brush themselves and chew on it without much enthusiasm, that is important. It teaches them that brushing is part of the daily routine and that it matters. Together with the parents it can also be a cheerful shared moment.

Yes – and also no. Involving children and encouraging them towards independent oral hygiene matters a great deal to us. Just as important, though, is that the tooth surfaces really get clean – and it takes a good while before children can manage that. Consider how long children need before they can hold a pencil properly and then draw shapes deliberately, let alone write. In terms of movement, brushing is distinctly more demanding. Children should therefore brush their own teeth as early as possible, but mum or dad have to help well into the school years, above all by regularly going over them again afterwards.

Here too: as early as possible. A visit to the dentist has two main purposes for us. First, the dental examination is there to spot any disease of the teeth early and to treat it where necessary. In doing so we want to give the parents feedback and perhaps some practical tips for their efforts at home. Second, children should learn how ordinary and straightforward an examination at the practice is, and that it is entirely normal for a dentist to look at their teeth from time to time. If parents notice something unusual while brushing – dark spots that will not brush away, or teeth that seem badly positioned – they should make an appointment in any case.

Children are not, in principle, afraid of the dentist at all. Why would they be? None of them has yet had the famous "bad experience". Going to the dentist is something new and unknown – but children meet new things all the time. In our experience they are therefore far more curious than anxious. What parents should watch is that they do not project their own possible anxieties onto the child. Many parents can in fact treat their child's first visit as a fresh start for themselves: they are often surprised how much there is to find interesting at the dentist, and how free of stress a check-up can be.

Of course you should tell children what a dentist does and what awaits them, and talk it through with them. Besides talking, children's books lend themselves to this: they take up the subject sensitively and informatively and present it in a way children understand.

It certainly makes sense to take children along to your next check-up, so that they can see how the dentist looks at mum's or dad's teeth and how relaxed the parents are about it. In every area of life parents are the models their children learn from, willingly and eagerly. You should not simply bring your child unannounced, though: please let the practice know in advance that your child is coming. That makes both the preparation and the appointment itself easier for everyone. And please bring your child only to a check-up, not to a planned, lengthy treatment or to emergency care for pain. At such an appointment the child cannot be given the attention it needs, and children grow bored after a while.

There are of course specialists in this field too, who with a great deal of experience and particular expertise can engage closely with children. For some children it is certainly well worth seeing a specialist colleague. In general, however, all dentists can treat children and many are very glad to do so. The simplest course is to ask your own dentist and to request a recommendation.