After talking to all the parents that bring their kids to my office, we decided to make this video to help the parents understand what mistakes they may be making when it comes to their kids teeth.

#1 – Leaving your child alone to brush:

Parents will assume their children are more independent than they actually are. They also assume their motor skills and coordination has progressed to a point where they can actually brush and floss properly.

What you should be doing is supervising their brushing until they can spit on their own and not swallow the toothpaste – which is usually not until age 6 or 7.

#2 – Allowing child to sleep with a bottle:

This actually leads to early childhood cavities or caries. There’s actually a term for this –  It’s called the baby bottle tooth decay or nursing caries.

What happens is that there is initially rampant decay involving the upper front teeth, which then progresses towards the baby molars in the back of the mouth.

The biggest risk factor for this condition is putting a child to sleep at bedtime or nap time with a bottle. It’s caused by continual, prolonged exposure of baby teeth to soft drinks, fruit juices, and other sugar containing liquids placed in the bottle.

Here’s what you parents can do to prevent baby bottle tooth decay:

Place ONLY formula, milk, breast milk, or water in the bottle.

A bottle should never be used as a PACIFIER during nap time or bedtime – especially when it contains sweetened beverages.

Once they’re done, the infant should be placed in bed WITHOUT the bottle. If there’s really a need while they’re in bed, a pacifier is preferable to the bottle.

#3 – Loading up on sports drinks:

If your kids are involved in sports, then listen up!

Most sports drinks (like Gatorade) are extremely acidic and contain tons of sugar. Kids usually sip on these drinks every few minutes, which means their teeth are constantly being bathed in acidic environment all day.

There’s no opportunity for the pH to Re-balance.

So what can you really do? What’s the alternative to Gatorade?

Don’t drink Gatorade or any sports drink that is processed or is colored!

Drink WATER instead! Another great alternative to Gatorade is coconut water, which actually has high amounts of electrolytes.

And that’s it for today guys! If you found this helpful and think that your family or friends find these tips helpful for their kids, please don’t forget to share by clicking on the share button button or by tagging them in the video!

Thank you so much. Thanks for watching. Keep tuning in to our page for future videos!