5 Ways Oral Hygiene Impacts Your Child’s Overall Well-Being

At Santa Barbara Children's Dentistry, we know teaching and instilling good oral hygiene habits in your children can be difficult, but these habits are necessary for more than just clean and happy teeth. Good oral hygiene can protect your little one from various overall health concerns. Knowing how to properly care for your child’s teeth, and bringing them into our office for regular check-ups with Dr. Cox will help protect your child from various overall health concerns. We're here to shine a light on 5 Ways Oral Hygiene Impacts Your Child’s Overall Well-Being.

1. Cavities

Cavities are like little troublemakers that can come as a result of poor oral hygiene. Cavities are caused when too much bacteria from our food sits on our teeth for too long. Cavities can cause toothaches, sensitivity, and can require fillings, extractions, and other dental procedures to correct.

Teaching your kids how to properly brush and floss their teeth about healthy food choices can keep those troublemaker cavities away.

Sugar is the number one cavity causing food, and it’s in most of the food we buy at the grocery store. Limit foods high in sugar like sodas, sports drinks, candies, and fruit juices.

2. Pain and Infections

If your child often forgets to brush their teeth, or avoids flossing, then chances are their teeth will suffer the consequences. Practicing good oral hygiene and keeping teeth strong and healthy can prevent painful toothaches and nasty infections. Poor oral hygiene habits will only promote toothaches and infections, and those are surefire ways to ruin a good smile. If your little one is in pain, it is super likely that they will avoid some of their favorite activities, and that will definitely contribute to an unhappy kiddo.

Teaching the importance of good oral hygiene habits, making sure your children remember to practice these habits, and bringing your kids in for regular check-ups with Dr. Cox and the SB Children's Dentistry team can prevent these painful experiences and keep your kids happy and their smiles healthy.

3. Food Avoidance

We choose foods that we love, that taste good and make us feel good. But we also often avoid foods that hurt us or cause us discomfort. If your child has bad oral hygiene it can lead to cavities, gingivitis, broken teeth, and teeth loss.

These various oral injuries can lead to difficulty chewing and swallowing, which could cause your kiddos to avoid certain foods and food groups. If your children avoid certain foods and food groups, they might even miss some key nutritional elements from those foods. And you definitely don’t want your little ones to miss out on any of those key vitamins and minerals, because they’re vital to building strong and healthy kiddos!

4. Gum Disease

Gingivitis and gum disease aren’t just problems for adults to worry about. If your child isn’t brushing and flossing properly, then the leftover food particles and saliva will mix and turn into plaque. When plaque accumulates, it can turn into tartar and can lead to gingivitis, a mild form of gum disease. This can cause several issues like irritation, redness, swelling, and bloody gums.

If your child develops gingivitis, make sure to bring them into our office so Dr. Cox can evaluate their condition, and so our SB Children's Dentistry team can give them a thorough cleaning.

5. Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

You may be surprised to know that poor oral hygiene can lead to serious health issues down the road, such as cardiovascular disease. If your kiddos have harmful bacteria sit on their teeth, that bacteria can travel to the bloodstream over time and begin to affect the heart. Help your kiddos keep healthy hearts into adulthood by teaching them good oral hygiene habits and helping them keep their teeth clean and healthy!

Here are a few activities you can do with you children to help create those good oral hygiene habits:

Remember, a healthy smile is a happy smile! With good oral hygiene habits, your kiddos will have strong, healthy teeth and their overall health will reap the benefits, too!

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s oral hygiene habits, feel free to call our office at (805) 421-4469. We are always happy to help!