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How To Care For Your Child’s Teeth

In this article, we talk to a holistic dentist about how to care for your little one’s teeth, minus the toxins.

Jenny Ringland Health & Wellness Journalist

When it comes to our kids’ teeth, it can be a daily battle to even get them to brush let alone think about flossing.

In an effort to make the whole ordeal a bit easier, we asked holistic dentist, Dr. Lewis Ehrlich for his advice on little teeth.

In this article, will look at:

How diet affects your child’s teeth
How the right breathing technique is important for a child’s oral health
The importance of establishing a daily brushing routine

Scroll down to learn more.

How diet affects your child’s teeth

Diet is the most important consideration when it comes to a child’s teeth, says Dr. Ehrlich.

“Eating natural, healthy, seasonal, organic whole foods is good. They should be eating carrots, and nuts, and breaking down good quality grass fed meats in moderation,’’ he says.

“We’re seeing a lot of jaw fractures in children at the moment because they’re eating too much soft, processed food. Chewing real food is healthy for our teeth, because we’re putting them to work. The chewing also elongates kids jaws and makes their jawline develop correctly under the right amount of tension. I tell my patients to avoiding refined sugars, gluten, refined gluten, and highly processed dairy. Processed dairy is inflammatory to the tonsils – inflamed tonsils can lead to mouth breathing which can cause decay.”

Learning to breathe

Dr Ehrlich says breathing is one of the most important things for a child to be doing correctly.

“They should be breathing with the tongue at the roof of their mouth, and they should breathe through their noses,’’ he says.

“A good rhyme is: ‘noses are for breathing, mouths are for feeding’. If the tongue position is right, and they’re breathing through their nose, bacteria in their mouths will be reduced. As a result, we’ll have less inflammation in the kid’s body, and if there’s less inflammation, the teeth will be in better shape.”

A daily brushing routine

Brushing and flossing twice a day is what we are all accustomed to, but another really important habit to get into an ancient Ayurvedic dental technique called oil pulling, which is simply holding coconut oil in your mouth for a period of time – usually 20 minutes – says Dr Ehrlich.

“It can reduce inflammation, fight decay and prevent gum disease,’’ he says.

“They’ll be very resistant, because they’ll think it’s gross. So do 30 seconds, and then a minute and build up that way.”