When should my child start flossing?
You should start flossing your children’s teeth even when they have only their primary teeth. As they develop dexterity, you can help them learn to floss. To stress the importance, floss for them regularly until they’re able to do it themselves. Use floss, like Glide®, that doesn’t hurt their teeth and is comfortable on their gums.
Flossing can make a big difference in preventing cavity formation between the teeth — so it’s a good idea for parents to start flossing their children’s teeth as soon as the teeth are in contact with one another, as early as age 2 1/2. By the time your child heads to school, he should be flossing on his own, even though he won’t have the dexterity to do a great job for a few years yet. Until he’s an expert at flossing, supervise and give him a pointer now and then. For example, you might suggest that to make flossing more comfortable, he should allow a little slack rather than holding the floss too tightly around his fingers. Ideally, you want your child to floss every day at bedtime. At the minimum, make sure he flosses twice a week.
