Good oral hygiene starts at young age
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Rankin Inlet (Apr 25/01) - Hopefully the month of April has helped make smiles a little brighter in the Kivalliq region.
Dental therapist Mykaela Matthews has been seeing about 20 children a week at Maani Ulujuk middle school in Rankin Inlet since August 2000.
Matthews says Dental Health Month promotes proper dental care for everyone in the community, especially children.
She says it's important for people to understand why they should take good care of their teeth.
"I see a lot of kids going out of the community for tooth extractions or to have crowns put on their teeth and this can all be prevented by brushing regularly," says Matthews.
"These trips are too readily accepted and have become a crutch to lean on."
When Matthews did a presentation on baby bottle tooth decay, she realized a number of parents didn't understand what it was or how to prevent it.
She says parents simply accept the results and nonchalantly send their kids to Churchill, Man. to have unnecessary dental problems fixed.
"A lot of older kids are deciding they want to have their teeth looking nice, but the younger ones still don't seem to really care too much.
"The younger the child, the more responsibility the parent has to take."
Matthews says regular brushing can be made fun for children.
She says the earlier parents start with their child, the better.
One way parents can get a child's attention is to let them watch when they brush their own teeth.
Matthews says if young kids see mommy and daddy brush, they want to try.
She says just allowing them to run a toothbrush around in their mouth or chewing on it gets them used to using it.
"You can have two or three toothbrushes, maybe with different colours or characters on them, and ask which one they'd like to use today.
"Make a game of it so brushing becomes more fun or interesting to them.
"Children learn by example. You can try different approaches to get your child involved with good oral hygiene at an early age."
