An electric toothbrush helps to ensure your child's oral health, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. An electric toothbrush might help your child brush better and limit the amount of toothpaste he uses during brushing to an age-appropriate amount because of the small head. It might also entice your child to brush and make oral hygiene a fun experience.
Cleaning for All Ages
Brushing teeth removes plaque and improves gum circulation, which helps to ensure oral health. Oral hygiene needs to begin before there is even a tooth in a baby's mouth to promote healthy gums. Don't use an electric toothbrush to clean a baby's gums, but wipe her gums gently with water using a soft washcloth or a soft manual toothbrush. Regardless of the type of brush a child uses, supervise the activity until she is able to rinse and spit out the toothpaste in her mouth, which is about 6 years of age. Make sure your child brushes at least twice daily and cleans each accessible tooth surface.
Brushing Improvement
Children clean 41 percent more plaque from teeth with an electric toothbrush than with a manual toothbrush, according to Vanderbilt University Psychology Department. The reason for the cleaning improvement involves better dexterity. Studies show that even children up to 11 years old can reach only 50 percent of tooth surfaces. An electric toothbrush helps children reach surfaces they might not be able to reach with a manual toothbrush.
Physical Limitations
An electric toothbrush can help people suffering from physical disabilities. The American Dental Association recommends that brushing occur for at least 2 minutes, twice daily. This is a difficult task for children to accomplish manually, let alone one who has a motor impairment. An electric brush can be used by a child who has not developed the fine motor skills necessary to ensure adequate oral hygiene.
Brushing Encouragement
In addition to more efficient brushing, an electric toothbrush might give your child more motivation to brush his teeth. According to Vanderbilt University Psychology Department, electric toothbrushes might encourage a child to brush because of their gadget effect. You can find electric toothbrushes that feature characters from popular kids movies or that play music, which are meant to make your child to want to use the product.
