Good oral hygiene practices should be formed early. Dentists advise that you begin brushing your child’s teeth when the baby erupts, using a toothbrush for their age range and progressing to larger brushes. Electric toothbrushes are better than manual ones.
As long as they are used properly, both toothbrushes can equally effectively prevent plaque and decay from building up on your child’s teeth. However, attractive features on electric toothbrushes may encourage younger children to brush their teeth less frequently and promote oral health.
Which Toothbrush Do Kids Prefer?
Your child is more likely to use their toothbrush properly if they enjoy using it. You can choose which brush your child prefers by letting them use both manual and electric ones and decide which they prefer.
Electric toothbrushes can be enticing to some children and unsettling or frightening, though this changes typically as the child becomes accustomed to the device. It is all a matter of preference. While some kids might enjoy the back-and-forth, up-and-down motion of traditional brushing, others might prefer the motion of electric toothbrushes that clean their teeth one at a time.
How Do I Choose the Right One?
Allowing your child to select their toothbrush is the best approach to finding one that they will like using. Bring them to the store, pharmacy, or dental office so they can look over all the options and choose the one they’ll be happiest utilizing daily.
Some electronic toothbrushes have features like lights, music, and sound effects that are intended to make them even more enticing. This might assist your child in brushing for the necessary amount of time and encourage them to do so (two minutes, twice a day).
Are There Any Solid Benefits to Electric Toothbrushes?
Electric toothbrushes do provide some great benefits for children. Some of them are as follows:
- They remove plaque more effectively than manual toothbrushes
The bacterial coating that sticks to our teeth and is colorless and sticky is called plaque. We want children to remove all the plaque when they brush! Plaque eradication is more effective with electric toothbrushes than with manual ones. Why? An electric toothbrush may clean your teeth anywhere from 8,000 to 25,000 times per minute, depending on the brand and type. All of them use bristles that oscillate or vibrate in some way. A human hand cannot match that many strokes! Every stroke is an opportunity to remove plaque, which can result in bad breath, tartar, and decay.
- Kids can avoid brushing their teeth too hard by using electric toothbrushes.
It would help if you had acute motor control to brush your teeth. Children must move the toothbrush with the proper pressure and at the appropriate angle. Many children seven and younger need more coordination to accomplish this. Also, many older children think brushing more vigorously results in better brushing. In actuality, overly vigorous brushing might harm tooth enamel. There are pressure alerts on many high-quality electric toothbrushes, so they stop working if your child brushes too hard! Kids can also use the brush in a motion that requires less fine motor control, such as a slide-and-glide action.
- Kids are more likely to brush with an electric toothbrush for the full two minutes.
For children, two minutes can seem like an eternity. It’s easy to become sidetracked when so many screens and toys are around. With certain electric toothbrushes, brushing becomes fun. Some toothbrushes use Bluetooth to link the toothbrush and tablet, and when your child brushes for the entire two minutes, an app rewards them with points. The app then monitors how long your child brushes. These points can be used to feed or personalize a virtual pet they can brush. Another great electric toothbrush is the Oral-B Smart 1500, which is high-quality and long-lasting.
- Children might be encouraged to brush those challenging areas with an electric toothbrush.
Bluetooth apps can track WHERE children are brushing. They can see where they touched and missed, so kids can go back and brush those forgotten spots! Some brushes are good at cleaning hard-to-reach areas in a short period.
- For many children, using an electronic rather than a manual brush is more enjoyable.
Even if it features a child’s favorite character, a manual toothbrush doesn’t seem appealing in today’s high-tech world. Even those intended for teenagers and adults often include high-tech features. For example, personalized 3-D brushing models keep track of where you brush. Timers serve as a reminder of how long to remain in one spot. You are prevented from brushing too hard by pressure sensors. Your youngster is far more likely to brush without conflict if they enjoy it! Kids will look forward to brushing when you add entertaining online pets to the mix, who will keep you company. Many kids relate high technology to “fun” and “better.”
This informative article helps you decide whether or not electric toothbrushes are the right choice for your child. It’s also essential to take your child for regular dental visits, so feel free to book an appointment with us for your child today. Please check out our blog page for many great articles about your child’s dental health and helpful advice on keeping your child’s oral health in tip-top shape!
Recent Comments