When do children start brushing their own teeth?
Your child can now do more and more for themselves when brushing their teeth. But it is advisable to have an adult clean it up to school age. Read here about when a child can take on which tasks and how you can motivate your child to brush their teeth.
In terms of fine motor skills , children can only brush their teeth thoroughly when they have fluent handwriting at school. Of course, you can playfully share the work with your child beforehand and make brushing your teeth a routine in everyday life. For example, it gets a feeling for how long the care of the milk teeth should take. Our 10 tips will help make brushing your teeth fun.
This means that children should be introduced to the process as soon as they have their first teeth, even if they can only brush their teeth completely independently at school age. You will then become more and more independent step by step.
Brush teeth from babies
As soon as the first milk teeth appear, you start brushing your teeth. Read here when which milk tooth comes and what you should consider when caring for baby teeth .
Introduce toddler to brushing teeth
When your child becomes a toddler, it can take over more and more of its own tasks when it comes to brushing its teeth. As soon as you get the impression that your child is showing interest in the toothbrush, let them brush it themselves first and then brush it again thoroughly. The best thing you can do is make a game out of it. Many children find it funny when you say a little saying or move to it. Find your own ritual and repeat it every time. Even a little motivational help often works wonders. It can help, for example, if you link muesli or something else that your child likes to eating to brushing their teeth thoroughly at fixed times and having them brushed afterwards. So that your child acquires the right KAI toothbrushing technique from the start , you should already be using it now.
School children brush their teeth almost by themselves
By primary school age, a daily routine for brushing teeth has been established. However, the prerequisite is that the good dental care habits are maintained later. It is better to brush your teeth thoroughly once a day than carelessly five times a day. Even with eight to nine-year-olds, it can happen that the main cleaning job is still left to the parents. It is best if you accompany brushing your teeth regularly up to the age of ten and check whether your child has really brushed his or her teeth or not. It is not until late primary school age that children’s tooth brushing technique is so mature that you only have to pay attention to regularity and thoroughness. With the enrollment at a secondary school, the change to junior toothpaste and the tooth brushing technique for adults should also take place.
The right toothbrush for your child
In order for brushing your teeth to work properly, your child needs a toothbrush that fits properly in the hand. There are many different children ‘s toothbrushes with different handles. Get one with a wide handle, maybe made of rubber, so your child has a firm grip on the toothbrush. It is also worth investing in an electric toothbrush for your child . Many dentists recommend electric toothbrushes for small children because then there is no need to learn the correct brushing movements and the teeth are cleaned much more thoroughly. There are extra thick electric toothbrushes for children in fun colors that are easier for them to grip.
Properly brush your teeth with the technique for adults
When your child has developed the necessary manual skills for brushing teeth, they should switch from the KAI technique to the tooth brushing technique for adults: The so-called bass technique has proven to be particularly effective and is therefore recommended by many dentists. The toothbrush is placed against the gums and teeth at a 45° angle. By gently pressing the bristles against your teeth and gums, make small, half-tooth-breadth, back-and-forth shaking movements. In this way, the firmly adhering bacterial deposits (plaque) are loosened and removed thoroughly and gently. At least ten shaking movements should be carried out per tooth section. Systematic tooth cleaning begins, for example, with the outer surfaces; then come the inner surfaces and finally the chewing surfaces.