If you’re a parent of a young child, you’re probably well aware of how difficult it can be to get them to take charge of their oral health. Ensuring that your child is taking care of their dental hygiene and that you can get them to the dentist’s office for routine care, may pose some pretty significant challenges for even the most patient parent.
You might try incorporating oral healthcare into their playtime to help them get excited about dental hygiene. Here are some dental toys that can help you do that.
Dentist Role Play Kit
Kids are often intimidated the first time they go to the dentist’s office by the wide variety of tools that a dentist uses, many of which are deeply unfamiliar to them.
One way to get them comfortable with these tools, and with going to the dentist more generally, is to get them a playset that features mock versions of them. If you wanted, you could even play dentist and patient with your child, giving you an opportunity to model for them how to behave in the dentist’s office.
Play-Doh Drill ‘n Fill
Tooth decay is fairly common among children, so a dental filling is often one of the first restorative treatments that a child will have to undergo. If you want to get your child more comfortable with this procedure in particular, Play-Doh makes a playset that allows your child to see dental fillings from the other side.
Your child will be able to use Play-Doh to mold a smile, and then they’ll use the included dental tools to fill and repair any damage. This should make them more comfortable with dental fillings, and may even get them more interested in dentistry as a field!
App-connected Toothbrush
A toothbrush may not be what comes to mind when you think about a “toy,” but modern electric toothbrushes can both clean teeth and keep kids engaged.
Many electric toothbrushes can connect to a game on your phone that gives your child a score based on their performance, incentivizing them to brush properly for the recommended two minutes at a time.
About Our Practice
At Sprout Dentistry for Kids of Allen, we know that the most important part of helping children with their smiles is creating an environment that will make them want to keep coming back to see us! That’s why we work incredibly hard to ensure that you and your family are happy and comfortable while receiving the highest quality of pediatric dental care possible.
If you have any questions about how you can get kids excited about dentistry, we can be reached at our website or by phone at (469) 663-0098.