There are very few things in the world which can brighten up your day quite like hearing the joyful laughter of a child, or having them beaming a cute, bright white smile at you. Your family are indeed your smile’s keepers and even when you’re not in their presence one of the most noticeable of each of their features are their smiles. As a result, you naturally want to ensure to keep their smiles looking healthy, but it’s about more than just making sure their smiles look good.
A healthy-looking smile is exactly that – an indicator of an underlying healthy body, because oral health is generally an indicator of one’s overall health.
Making it your primary responsibility
Reading this post might only really serve to make you more aware of the good work you’re already doing taking care of your family’s oral health amongst other things, because moms just instinctively make provision for these things. There’s nothing wrong with seeking to consciously take full responsibility for it though and make your family’s dental health your primary responsibility.
What you have to do though is assert some authority and this is done through planting the seed in the minds of everybody by periodically inspecting their teeth. A simple “let me see your teeth” will do, once in a while and this includes your husband as well…
Encouraging good oral hygiene habits
Long before you might have to schedule any visits to the dentist or perhaps to a specialist orthodontic clinic for the appropriate treatment, good oral care habits need to be instilled in everybody. However, if you still experience any oral health issues afterward, you might have to look for a good orthodontic clinic. Unfortunately, finding a reputable one can be difficult nowadays. Perhaps orthodontics might need to improve their marketing game, such as enlisting the help of Cloud 9 Software or by using other marketing techniques which could help build their brand and reach out to more patients. Having said that, good oral hygiene habits need to be made part of everyday family life.
This means that if it’s bedtime then everybody should know that they must first brush their teeth. Unfortunately remembering to brush one’s teeth before going to bed seems to be as much of a chore as actually brushing them, so it’s never a case of just announcing it to everybody once that that’s what they need to do and that being it. It might be one of those things which you have to preach and check-up on every night.
If it means you have to inspect everybody’s teeth before they hit the sack, then so be it!
Reinforcing good oral hygiene habits through rewards
When children go to the dentist, often the very uncomfortable experience that comes with the requisite procedure to take care of whatever issue is identified, is followed by some kind of reward. It’s usually a small reward, like a sucker, but that’s a very powerful psychological cue dental professionals use to ensure kids understand that it’s good to look after their teeth. You should take a leaf out of their books, but not necessarily through giving them candy each time they remember to brush on their own or anything of the sort. Sugary foods consumed regularly may cause tooth decay at a young age. It could get even worse if they need to get their teeth extracted due to cavities. However, if it has become necessary, you might want to look for dentists from dental care clinics like EastSide Family Dental Care who are thought to be experienced enough to take proper care of children during the extraction procedure.
Rather, the rewards which they are to enjoy should be built into their lifestyles, such as something like no bedtime story unless they’ve brushed their teeth. Be subtle about it, but you should probably also make them aware of the correlation between preventative measures taken to take care of their oral health and the number of visits to the dentist required.
Scheduling regular check-ups
No matter how you look at it, nobody likes to go to the dentist, but it’s a necessary part of life, so regular check-ups should be scheduled.
Working dental care into your medical insurance plan
Because of the need for regular check-ups, which to be fair are probably not anywhere near expensive at all, dental care should form part of your medical insurance plan. You might find that you really need it if there’s a need for something along the lines of an orthodontic treatment or if a serious dental issue arises which would otherwise cost quite a bit to sort out.
If you do not have a dental insurance plan, see if there are any government-funded coverage programs that you can take advantage of. Medicare is a federally funded coverage in the US, and Medicaid programs are regulated state-wise. Most of these health services cover dental health, however, do check the eligibility guidelines. For instance, in California, the residents of Riverside and San Bernardino counties who meet the eligibility guidelines (low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled) benefit from Medi-Cal services. In case you meet these criteria, you can go through https://www.iehp.org/en/members/medical-riverside to learn more about this plan.
Promoting a generally healthier lifestyle
Remember that the mouth is generally an indicator of the overall health of the body, so great oral health starts with good health all round. As a result, promoting a generally healthier lifestyle is the key to taking care of your family’s great smiles, so encourage everybody to drink lots of water, eat more whole foods and fresh foods, and get plenty of exercise.