When can my child brush their teeth on their own?

Raising children is hard work! We all know a toddler who prefers to brush on their own! But is that ok?

We want to foster curiosity and also habits of good oral health, BUT we also want to prevent cavities.

So what do you do?

Encourage children to explore brushing themselves, make it fun, try brushing together and praising them for wanting to make sure their teeth stay strong.

BUT ALSO, make sure an adult is taking a turn to ensure that each tooth is brushed carefully and completely. Snuggling a child into your lap and singing while brushing can make this a sweet bonding moment for the child, while also keeping teeth healthy!

As a rule, children do not develop the manual dexterity and hand skills to brush well until age 8, and need assistance by a caregiver until the age of 8. Then we recommend brushing with supervision when they are older than 8 years old to help kids stay on track and prompt them to get all those easy to forget placed, like the way back molars or closer to the gums!

Want to check on your child’s brushing skills? At our cleaning appointments we can use a special disclosing solution that will leave pink and blue color on plaque that was missed during brushing and can be a fun way for children to really see why we brush!