Using the Tooth Fairy As a Teaching Tool

Kids love the tooth fairy! For most, she’s a lovely little lady, clad in a tutu and a tooth-shaped wand, who rewards lost teeth with goodies beneath the lucky child’s pillow. Parents, you can use this excitement and interest in the Tooth Fairy to teach your kids about the importance of oral health!

Below are a few suggestions for how to use the Tooth Fairy to teach your children how to take better care of their pearly whites:

• Leave a note reinforcing good habits
  A personalized note from the Tooth Fairy could be almost as fun for your kids as the gift itself. In this note, you can include tips for important oral health habits that the Tooth Fairy wants kids to practice, such as brushing twice a day, flossing once a day and visiting the dentist twice a year. You can even go one step further and sprinkle the paper with magical fairy sparkles!
• Give oral health gifts
  In 2013, the Tooth Fairy left money at 99% of homes she visited. Instead of cold, hard cash, consider reinforcing good oral health habits by providing new toothpaste with a fun flavor, or a new toothbrush with their favorite cartoon character. There are also several children’s books about the Tooth Fairy and her various adventures, which can be fun for the whole family!
• Introduce the Tooth Fairy early on
  Your kids will typically start losing baby teeth around age 5 or 6. But even before then, you can start teaching your children about the Tooth Fairy and you should let them know that good oral health habits and healthy teeth make her super happy! Use this discussion as an opportunity to fine tune your child’s everyday dental routine and establish healthier habits. This may also be a good time to take your child in for a cleaning and check-up here at Firestone Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics in Firestone, Colorado! Our amazing dentists also have lots of tips to help make dental hygiene a little less of a chore at your home!
  
  Are your kids resisting these habits? If so, be sure to remind them that the Tooth Fairy only wants healthy baby teeth, not teeth with cavities. If their teeth aren’t healthy, she might not visit at all!

At the end of the day, no matter the gift, the money or the note, the Tooth Fairy tradition has been proven to foster goodwill towards dental hygiene for small children, and those habits will carry over into adulthood!