Last July, we again dropped by the #FabSkye’s pedia dentist for her semi-annual check up and fluoride thingy. I make sure that we visit our pedia dentist regularly. Her dental health, like all the other aspects of child’s life and health, is very important for me.
I am happy to announce that my child’s teeth and gums are as healthy as ever. No plaque, no tartar, no discoloration. The pedia dentist just did some minor cleaning and put some fluoride.
And medyo okay na din ang kanyang underbite. Mukhang we won’t need to have braces when she turns four pag nag dire-diretso to. Double yey!
Also, I am very happy to report that my baby was promoted to the big dentist chair already. Yey! Look at her silently seating on the chair and patiently waiting for her dentist. She didn’t cry. She didn’t wail. She didn’t give us a hard time. When the dentist asked her to show them her teeth, she opened her mouth without issues. Umiyak nalang bandang dulo when she heard her Tatay’s voice. Umarte ng slight pero keri lang.
As usual, the dentist gave her some toys after. Which made her happy. Our dentist commend me for being able to take care of child’s teeth well. Kahit na sinabi ko na sa kanila na hindi na ako nagba-brush ng teeth ng anak ko. Ayaw na nya kasi. She would always say, “Kakay only”. Meaning, she wants to brush her teeth on her own. Kaya minsan feeling ko hindi naba-brush ng maayos. Although sometimes pumapayag naman sya pero mas madalas yung hindi.
When I blogged about her first dental check up, I shared with you some FAQs and answered them as best as I could. This time, I’d like to share with you some tips on how we take care of my child’s teeth.
How To Take Care of Your Toddler’s Teeth
1. Train them to drink lots of water. Yes. That’s my number one tip. And I guess that’s the reason why even though Skye’s brushing her own teeth and can’t brush them properly everyday, her teeth are still healthy. We would make her drink lotsa water after eating or drinking to wash the excess food on her mouth right away. We would also encourage her to drink water before going to bed. I’m glad that unlike me, malakas uminom si Skye ng water. Ako kasi, I can last an entire day ng walang tubig talaga. OA. But now, I am making an extra effort to drink water because of it’s endless benefits.
2. Make brushing a part of her daily routine. Before, she’d brush her teeth every night only. Yes. Once a day only. Every night. We started that routing since she started with solids at 6 months until 2 years old. When she started going to school, she would now brush her teeth twice. One in the morning and again at night.
3. Do not brush their teeth too much. Nobody told me to do this. And I don’t have studies or research or whatever as proof. But generally, based on studies, adults are only advised to brush our teeth once or twice a day. I used to brush mine three times or more. Until my dentist advised me not to. Apparently, napupudpod ko na pala ang enamel ng teeth ko because of constant brushing. Kaya din ako madaling mangilo dati. Napupudpod din ang gums ko because of too much brushing. So now I only brush once. Yes. Once only. Every night. In the morning, mumog lang. At lunch time, I only floss. So I figured, I should also do the same with my child to protect her enamel. We only brush twice. Max na ang twice.
4. Use a toothbrush appropriate for their age with super soft bristles. As I mentioned above, muntik ko ng mapudpod ang gums ko because of too much brushing and apparently, because of the incorrect tooth brush I use. Feeling ko kasi, I should use those harder brush para malinis mabuti. Minsan masama din talaga sobrang linis eh. Ayan tuloy. Pudpod ang gums, gasgas ang enamel. And so for the #FabSkye, I got her a toddler toothbrush with super, as in super soft bristles. Her toothbrush costs almost 300php each but so far, it’s the best. The cheaper ones I got her, nasayang lang kasi hindi ko maatim ipagamit. We use Colgate Kids 0-2 Baby Extra Soft Toothbrush. So far sya talaga ang pinaka okay out of all those I’ve tried and bought.
5. Use the appropriate toothpaste. We use SansFluo! It’s flouride-free because they say that babies should not use toothpaste with fluoride until she could spit all the toothpaste. Marunong naman mag spit si Kakay but she could still swallow some. So ayaw ko pa to make the big switch . Anyway, we visit her pedia regularly naman for fluoride.
6. Floss. Yes. Floss if needed. I can’t live without floss and her pedia dentist gave us the go signal to use dental floss if needed. So minsan si Kakay na mismo magsasabi na she needs flossing because there’s eeewy stuck on her teeth.
That’s it. Wow! I just realized that the best practices I listed here are not just for toddlers. It’s for us too. Those are the exact things I do to take care of my teeth. If only I started early. Oh well, at least I’m doing things right for my child. Until next time!
Milestones
Parenting Tip
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