The American Dental Association has deemed February to be National Children’s Dental Health Month. To celebrate, Dearborn National, an insurance company that offers a group dental plan, has put together a fun activity book for kids that promotes good dental habits.
I find it amusing that February, the month that includes Valentine’s Day, and all the sugary treats that go along with it, has been designated as National Children’s Dental Health month. On second thought, maybe February is a good choice after all!
It has been said that when it comes to health, preventative measures are much better than treatment for problems that might have been prevented, if only the proper care and maintenance had been given. Good dental health is important for people of all ages, and this includes children. Some dentists will recommend that kids start going for regular dental visits starting as young as six months old, (or whenever the child first develops teeth). Other dentists will suggest that children begin seeing a dentist after the child has turned two or three years old, perhaps because preschool age children are going to be able to have a better understanding of what is going on.
It is a good idea to prepare your child before he or she visits the dentist for the first time. You can do this in many ways. One good way to do this is to find a picture book that tells the story of a character’s trip to the dentist, and read it with your child. You can “role play” visiting the dentist, if that will help your child to understand and become comfortable with the experience.
It is also very important to teach your child how to properly care for his or her teeth. It’s not always easy to motivate a kid to brush their teeth in the morning, or before bed, and many will want nothing at all to do with floss. Dearborn National understands. This insurance company has released an activity book for kids that is designed to encourage good dental habits. It is called “Fun With Healthy Teeth” and is part of a wellness initiative that Dearborn National is providing to it’s members.
The activity booklet has a lot of good information about how to take care of teeth. It is written in clear, easy to read, text. There are drawings to color in, a maze to find your way through, and a page that asks you to identify healthy foods.
The activity book also contains a calendar page for the month of February. Each day has a sun and a moon drawn on it. When a child brushes his or her teeth in the morning, the child can color in the sun for that day. When teeth are brushed at night, it’s time to color in the moon. This calendar might motivate a kid to brush their teeth twice a day. Once the month is over, and the calendar page is completed, parents can send it in to Dearborn National, to receive a Fuzzy Head Dental Floss dispenser. I’m not sure if you have to be a customer of Dearborn National in order to be eligible for the offer.
Image by Anderson Mancini on Flickr