{"id":212,"date":"2021-05-02T06:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T06:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/?p=212"},"modified":"2021-06-04T06:57:20","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T06:57:20","slug":"childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/","title":{"rendered":"When Should Your Child Begin Brushing and Flossing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Brushing<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You know that it is important to brush your teeth twice and floss at least once a day in order to keep your smile in excellent health. But when it comes to your child, where does it all begin? At what point do their need to have their teeth brushed and flossed? What if they don\u2019t even have teeth yet? Continue reading to learn more from a children\u2019s dentist<\/a> about the oral hygiene steps you should take for your child as they are growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Oral Care for Babies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As soon as your baby is born, you can start caring for their smile. However, it won\u2019t involve a toothbrush or toothpaste. After all, your little one doesn\u2019t have any teeth yet. Instead, take a soft, moistened washcloth or gauze and gently wipe down your baby\u2019s gums at least twice a day. This is especially important to do after feeding and before bedtime. This will help to wash away bacteria and prevent them from clinging to the gums and causing issues in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brushing Your Child\u2019s Teeth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As soon as your child\u2019s first teeth begin to erupt, it is time to move on to a toothbrush. Make sure that you choose a toothbrush that has soft bristles, a small head, and a large handle so that it is easy for you to use. At first, just wet the toothbrush. By soaking the brush in warm water for a few minutes, this will soften the bristles even more, making them more idea for your child. Use about a grain of rice-sized amount of fluoridated toothpaste. Once your child turns 3, a pea-sized amount will be sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flossing Your Child\u2019s Teeth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Flossing is an important step to care for your child\u2019s smile, even if they only have baby teeth. Children should have their teeth flossed as soon as they have two teeth that are touching each other. This usually happens when the last two molars come in around the age of 2. If you don\u2019t see a space or the gums between the teeth, it is a good idea to floss between them. Your child will need help when they are younger, but once they reach about seven or eight years old, they will probably be about ready to do it on their own with parental supervision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instilling excellent oral hygiene practices as a young age helps your child to learn how to take care of their teeth. This way, they can maintain a healthy, happy smile!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Erin M. Prach<\/a> earned her dental doctorate from the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine and has continued to further her education in order to keep her knowledge and skills sharp. This include studying oral surgery while on a mission trip to Guatemala. For more information on children\u2019s oral health or to schedule an appointment at her office in Casper, visit her website<\/a> or call (307) 337-4770.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know that it is important to brush your teeth twice and floss at least once a day in order to keep your smile in excellent health. But when it comes to your child, where does it all begin? At what point do their need to have their teeth brushed and flossed? What if they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChildren's Oral Health At-Home, Casper | Erin M. Prach, DDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At what age does your child need to have their mouth cleaned? A dentist explains what you need to know about children\u2019s oral health.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Children's Oral Health At-Home, Casper | Erin M. Prach, DDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At what age does your child need to have their mouth cleaned? A dentist explains what you need to know about children\u2019s oral health.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Erin Prach DDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-02T06:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-04T06:57:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Brushing-Babys-Teeth.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"prachddsteam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"prachddsteam\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/\",\"name\":\"Children's Oral Health At-Home, Casper | Erin M. Prach, DDS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Brushing-Babys-Teeth.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-02T06:55:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-04T06:57:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b3fe4edd5fc555a7c850ed6f5046dfbf\"},\"description\":\"At what age does your child need to have their mouth cleaned? A dentist explains what you need to know about children\u2019s oral health.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Brushing-Babys-Teeth.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Brushing-Babys-Teeth.jpeg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":534},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Should Your Child Begin Brushing and Flossing?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Erin Prach DDS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b3fe4edd5fc555a7c850ed6f5046dfbf\",\"name\":\"prachddsteam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddb3e85e80275213c7a38d3943cbf5cc15dd3c2c1feb2ae9d7b854ba09cb84b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddb3e85e80275213c7a38d3943cbf5cc15dd3c2c1feb2ae9d7b854ba09cb84b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"prachddsteam\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/author\/prachddsteam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Children's Oral Health At-Home, Casper | Erin M. Prach, DDS","description":"At what age does your child need to have their mouth cleaned? A dentist explains what you need to know about children\u2019s oral health.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Children's Oral Health At-Home, Casper | Erin M. Prach, DDS","og_description":"At what age does your child need to have their mouth cleaned? A dentist explains what you need to know about children\u2019s oral health.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/","og_site_name":"Erin Prach DDS","article_published_time":"2021-05-02T06:55:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-04T06:57:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Brushing-Babys-Teeth.jpeg"}],"author":"prachddsteam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"prachddsteam","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/","name":"Children's Oral Health At-Home, Casper | Erin M. Prach, DDS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Brushing-Babys-Teeth.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-05-02T06:55:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-04T06:57:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b3fe4edd5fc555a7c850ed6f5046dfbf"},"description":"At what age does your child need to have their mouth cleaned? A dentist explains what you need to know about children\u2019s oral health.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Brushing-Babys-Teeth.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Brushing-Babys-Teeth.jpeg","width":800,"height":534},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/childrens-oral-health-brushing-and-flossing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Should Your Child Begin Brushing and Flossing?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/","name":"Erin Prach DDS","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b3fe4edd5fc555a7c850ed6f5046dfbf","name":"prachddsteam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddb3e85e80275213c7a38d3943cbf5cc15dd3c2c1feb2ae9d7b854ba09cb84b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddb3e85e80275213c7a38d3943cbf5cc15dd3c2c1feb2ae9d7b854ba09cb84b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"prachddsteam"},"url":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/author\/prachddsteam\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214,"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prachdds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}