February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, and it’s almost over. Good news is 2012 is a leap year, so we get one more day to celebrate and bring attention to our children’s dental health, but that doesn’t mean our efforts are any less important every other month out of the year.
If we educate our kids everyday to not only the dangers of neglecting our teeth and gums, but the benefits of maintaining a daily dental defense, we can empower their optimal oral health from an early age.
In case you need more politically charged dental health info this primary season, or would rather listen to a US Senator than some anonymous dentally afflicted grist mill, check out what Senator Jay Rockefeller (D – WV) has to say about the topic.
The Senator illustrates how childhood tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease today.
According to the video, “…childhood tooth decay is 5 times more common than asthma and 7 times more common than hay fever.”
Now we’re not trying to drag politics into children’s dental health, but the good Senator did point out an alarming statistic – from about 3:00-3:30 in the video below.
More Dental Health Info
Here is a great children’s dental health lesson plan, courtesy of the LessonPlanDiva.com, a teacher run blog we recently had the good fortune to stumble across – it’s definitely worth a read for all the teachers out there, lots of good ideas for keeping the kiddies educated & entertained.
And parents should take note how most of her students in the dental lesson plan discussed, didn’t even know how to properly floss!
So how can we grab some more of this children’s dental health info that’s buzzing around the airways, where are all those super simple everyday tips to fend off the cavity creeps?
Here are three courtesy of the California Dental Hygienists’ Association (CDHA), as discussed in this Auburn Journal article – Children’s Dental Health Month Tips for Parents:
1. Parents do not transfer saliva to our kids by sharing spoons, testing food before feeding it to babies and by cleaning off a pacifier in our mouths instead of with water. This can transfer bacteria and seed a child’s mouth with cavity-causing bacteria.
2. Starting at birth, a baby’s gums should be cleaned daily by wiping with a soft cloth.
3. Babies should never be put to bed with a bottle, and should not be given bottles of juice or other sweetened drinks, as this can cause rampant cavities known as baby bottle decay.
Don’t Stop There…Dentists are Taking to Twitter!
Got any plans for lunch hour tomorrow?
Join the “Chat-n-Chomp: Kid’s Dental Health” live Twitter chat sponsored by Sharecare and the American Dental Association.
As it states on this press release about tomorrow’s upcoming event, dentists from the American Dental Association (ADA) are slated to tweet children’s oral health tips during a live Twitter chat Tuesday, Feb. 28, noon – 2 p.m. Eastern Time at hashtag #CavityFightrs on Sharecare’s new dedicated oral health Twitter handle @SCGetsMouthy.
If you have a Twitter account, you can follow the chat and ask questions of the experts at the hashtag #CavityFightrs. Dentists will tweet the ADA’s responses using the ADA’s Twitter account, @AmerDentalAssn.
Get in on the action and see if you can glean any more dental health tips to share with your kids, classes, or constituents.
Go out and ‘Follow‘ your local dental health expert today!
