16 Jun Are you brushing your child’s first tooth? Or perhaps you think that your child with special needs doesn’t need to brush their teeth?
Most parents understand the importance of maintaining good oral hygiene for their child. However, many parents don’t start brushing their child’s teeth until they are 4 to 5 years old. And if a child has Special Needs, tooth brushing can be challenging and stressful for parents, and as a result tooth brushing isn’t done at all.
Here at My Favourite Physio, our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists often find that little ones with Special Needs have a built up of plaque on their teeth and tooth caries. Due to medications that little ones with Special Needs are on, their tooth development might be delayed and their tooth enamel tends to be weaker. As such, tooth brushing is vital to prevent tooth decay and the need for invasive dental work later on. In extreme situations, we have seen a 4 years old child, misdiagnosed as having Autism because he was not speaking or maintaining eye contact with adults or children apart from their family members. The truth was, the child was embarrassed to open his mouth to speak, because other children teased him about his mouthful of decayed tooth stumps.
So to prevent tooth caries, as soon as your child’s first teeth appear, clean them using a child-sized soft toothbrush, without toothpaste. From 18 months of age, it is important to brush your child’s teeth twice a day with a small smear of fluoride toothpaste. Usually children don’t know how to spit properly until they are about 4 years old, so it is important that you only use a small smear of toothpaste. Help your child with brushing their teeth until they are eight years old. If your child has Special Needs then, you may have to always help them brush their teeth.
A beautiful smile will help your child’s confidence for the rest of their lives. If you are concerned about your child’s development, ring My Favourite Physio at (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio.
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