As your child grows, you may notice that the spaces between their teeth get smaller and that their teeth start touching each other forming very tight contacts.  Not only is this the time when kids get most of their cavities, but it is also the time to introduce flossing to your child.

 

Remember, brushing only removes the plaque on the tops and sides of your child's teeth, not in between.  Although flossing is an added nuisance, it helps remove all that gunky stuff such as plaque and food that commonly get caught in between teeth.

 

Follow these steps for effective flossing:

 

• Pull a small length of floss from the dispenser

• Wrap the ends of the floss tightly around your middle fingers

• Guide the floss between all of the teeth to the gum line, pulling out any food particles or plaque

• Unwrap clean floss from around your fingers as you go, so that you have used the floss from the beginning to the end when you finish

• Floss behind all of your back teeth