Start the new school year with a beautiful smile

Education often begins at home. Establishing and maintaining a good diet and regular oral hygiene practises during childhood can help create continuing good oral health through to adulthood. And a great way to start is to instil good dental habits in your children from a young age.

It is the start of a new school year and your children have new uniforms, new books and new teachers. But don’t forget their oral health. Here are four dental health tips to add to your back to school check list.

School Year Beautiful Smile Fresh Dental Care

1. Make dental visits a habit

Dental check-ups and a clean are recommended every six months to prevent dental problems or diagnose and treat problems in the early stages. Your dentist may suggest preventative treatments such as a fluoride treatment or fissure sealants to prevent decay. The early diagnosis and treatment of dental problems may save your child toothaches, which can result in distress to your child and absence at school. The earlier you start your child’s routine of visiting the dentist regularly the greater the chance that they will continue the habit as an adult.

The Federal Governments Child Dental Benefit Scheme is a fantastic initiative to promote oral health in children. Eligible families are entitled up to $1000 for every child aged between 2 to 17 for certain dental treatments over a two year period. This may help encourage regular visits to the dentist with the associated costs being subsidised.

2. Develop a good dental hygiene routine

Children need to brush their teeth for two minutes, twice a day and floss daily. Make tooth bushing fun by letting your child pick their own tooth brush with their favourite character on it and play a favourite song for them to brush to. It is recommended for an adult to brush their children’s teeth at night up until the age of 9 years. Night time brushing is the most important and children can brush their own teeth in the morning to develop their skills and promote independence. However, avoid letting your children skip their morning brush during the rush to get them to school and don’t leave it until they are too tired at night. Stress to your children that it is important to keep up this routine. Toothbrushes should be changed every three months and a good way of remembering this is to change their toothbrushes every school holidays.

3. Pack healthy lunch boxes

A heathy diet is not only important for your child’s general health, it is a major factor in avoiding tooth decay. Include items such as whole grain bread, cheese, raw vegetables, yoghurt and fruit in your child’s lunch box. Avoid having sticky or sugary foods, soft drinks and pre-packaged food as a regular component of your child’s diet. If your child is going to consume these food items they should be as a treat, not a regular part of their diet.  Discuss “everyday foods” and “sometimes foods” so your children can make good decisions on what foods they eat at school. Good dietary habits instilled through childhood can help set them up well throughout their life and contribute significantly to good health.

4. Do not forget mouthguards

A custom fitted mouthguard from your dentist is recommended for all children when playing contact sports. Sport and exercise is a key element of a child’s life in order to encourage social participation and healthy lifestyles. Accidents and injuries do occur on the sporting field, however the risk of serious dental injury can be greatly reduced by the use of a custom fitted mouthguard. Permanent teeth will not grow back if they are lost, so taking every precaution and preventative measure will help protect your children’s teeth.

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Old for New Toothbrush Exchange

How often do you replace your toothbrush? The team at Fresh Dental Care make sure they switch to a new toothbrush at least every 3 months.

We want our local community to have the best optimal oral health as well, that’s why every year Fresh Dental Care give almost 1,800 local school children a new toothbrush!

The Fresh Dental Care team visit two local schools in each of our four locations (Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Urunga, Macksville) to personally hand each child a new tooth brush, whilst there we also conduct tooth brushing technique demonstration and offer our favourite tips for flossing. Read about how the Tooth Fairy recruited us to help her.Old for New Toothbrush Exchange | Fresh Dental CareThis provides our local community with a unique service and benefits close to 1000 families every year, not to mention ensuring our Fresh Dental Care team are able to share their knowledge and passion for best oral health and hygiene techniques.

Would you like your school to get involved? Then call our friendly front desk team at any of our four Fresh Dental care clinics today.

Grafton: (02) 6643 2225

Coffs Harbour: (02) 6651 1350

Macksville: (02) 6568 1335

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The Tooth Fairy has Recruited Our Help

Everyone’s favourite fairy; the Tooth Fairy has been super busy with all the preschools and primary schools located between Stuarts Point and Grafton, so she has recruited Fresh Dental Care to help her!

The ToothFairy from Fresh Dental CareFresh Dental Care visits local schools and preschools teaching our littlest community members about healthy foods, tooth brushing techniques, flossing tips and to talk about letting Mum and Dad, Aunty, Uncle, Nana, Grandad (or anyone really!) to help you brush your teeth.

This is a fun and interactive experience with our local Tooth Fairy Assistant and reflects positively when the children attend our dental clinic and helps give them more tools to take care of their oral health!

Here are some of our tips on How to Brush and How to Floss.

For an extra bit of fun, download our colouring in competition and hand to the friendly staff next time you visit the dentist.

Fresh Dental Care wants to make a difference in our community with these yearly visits by the Tooth Fairy Assistant we’re certainly noticing an improvement with our littlest patients and their commitment to their dental routine!

If your school would like a visit from the Tooth Fairy Assistant, call our friendly front desk team at any of our four Fresh Dental Care clinics today.

Grafton: (02) 6643 2225

Coffs Harbour: (02) 6651 1350

Macksville: (02) 6568 1335

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