These are some tips for maintaining oral health at home for special children
1. Role play
Take a tip from pediatric dentists and try the"Tell-Show-Do" method of behavior modification. "We show children—often on a stuffed animal—what we hope to accomplish and allow the child to practice on the stuffed critter to make it a fun experience. They get to be the dentist."
2. Tag Team
Ideally, you and your husband can both pitch in with tooth brushing, especially early on in the process of introducing the habit to a child. "One person can hold and comfort," "and the other can actually accomplish the brushing and fluoride application." Note from me.
3. Make the brush comfortable to hold
For a child with fine-motor-skill issues, "toothbrushes can be adapted with a Play-doh grip, a bicycle grip or even a tennis ball."
4. Play a game
For example "smile contest"—as in,"Let's see who has the biggest smile!" That way a child exposes his teeth for brushing. "The patient always wins!" in this case. You can also entice kids with prizes or stickers, the parents have to remember that"Make it a game, but always reinforce with praise."
5. Put on some tunes
Kids love to brush their teeth to their favorite music. The hidden benefit is that most songs last at least two minutes, so we got them to brush for a significant amount of time without getting bored."
At Vasupujya Dental we take care of oral health of all kinds of children. Our staff is well versed with handling special children in the dental chair and understands the correct and respectful way to be used to handle them.