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According to an American survey, most children use too much toothpaste, do not brush their teeth often enough, and do not start brushing their teeth early enough.
Parents must brush their teeth from the first tooth, which can be 6 months old. And they have to help their children brush their teeth until they are independent enough to brush them properly and correctly, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pediatric groups.
"Cavities are one of the most common chronic diseases in children and untreated cavities can cause pain, infections, and feeding, speech and learning problems," said lead author of the study, Dr. Gina Thornton-Evans of the CDC Division of Oral Health in Atlanta, Georgia.
"Children with poor oral health often miss more school and have lower grades than children with better oral health," she said in an email
<! – Although it is recommended to start brushing as soon as the teeth appear, ingestion of too much fluoride can harm teeth in training, notes the team in CDC's weekly report on morbidity and mortality. The CDC therefore recommends that children do not use fluoride toothpaste until they are 2 years old.
Children under 3 years of age should use a toothpaste smear the size of a grain of rice, and children ages 3 to 6 should use a pea-sized amount, they add.
Thornton-Evans and colleagues badyzed the responses of parents and caregivers of more than 5,100 children and youth in a nationally representative survey.
The research team found that almost half of children ages 3-6 used the recommended amount of pea-sized toothpaste when they brushed, but 38% of them used toothpaste. half-load or more, which is too much.
Nearly 80% of children aged 3 to 15 years began brushing their teeth later than recommended. About 61% brushed their teeth twice a day, while 34% brushed only once a day.
The researchers also found differences in brushing habits based on race and ethnicity, as well as parents' levels of education and income. For example, children who lived with a parent or caregiver who did not complete high school and Mexican-American children were the most likely to have started brushing their teeth and using toothpaste after the age of 3 years.
The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics have begun developing messages for pregnant women and new mothers regarding toothbrushing practices, the study team noted. .
"Parents and caregivers have a huge opportunity to prevent their children from developing caries in early childhood," Thornton-Evans said. "As kids get older, parents need to watch and brush them and spit toothpaste until good brushing habits are formed."
Education programs should also help parents use behavior training strategies to reinforce brushing habits, said Brent Collett of the University of Washington's School of Medicine in Seattle, who has not participated in the study.
"With brushing teeth, the main problem that parents may find difficult is the refusal behavior of the child," Collett said during a phone interview. "It's hard when kids get angry."
Parents can start by asking their children to wet their toothbrush near the sink, he said, and then exercise to extract the proper amount of toothpaste and then to brush carefully the teeth. During the early years, parents may need to brush their children's teeth for themselves and with them to make sure everything is done right.
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