It's easier to ensure healthy dental habits in adolescents and teens not through force or commands, but by making suggestions and providing thorough explanations. The pediatric dentistry team at Pedodontic Associates in Aiea, Honolulu, and Kahului, Hawaii, explain how to best guide your teen toward healthy dental habits.

Support your teen's oral health by following these three tips:

• Provide Healthy Meals & Snacks: Keep white sugar and starches out of your pantry as much as possible, because these ingredients work with mouth bacteria to form acids that eat away at tooth enamel and cause decay. Stock your fridge and kitchen cupboards with healthy snacks, such as raw fruits and vegetables, low-fat cheeses, nuts, and whole grains. You may not always be able to control what your children eat, but you can encourage a healthy diet at home.

• Don't Buy Sports Drinks: Don't give your children sports drinks, energy drinks, or soda, and encourage your teens to drink water. Discuss how water offers a natural energy boost and promotes clear skin in addition to its oral health benefits. Talk about the acid content in sports drinks and similar beverages, and how acid causes enamel erosion that will affect their beautiful smiles. Teens are notoriously conscience of their appearances, so this may be a powerful incentive for them.
• Don't Allow Smoking: Set a good example in your household by abstaining from tobacco products and emphasizing the effects smoking has on a person's health and appearance. Teens are often tempted to smoke because it seems “cool,” but if you explain the damaging effects of firsthand and secondhand smoke, you'll be able to dissuade them from lighting up. Teen smoking is at an all-time low, but parents need to also be wary of other risks, including hookahs and e-cigarettes.

Of course, you should continue to encourage your teens to brush their teeth at least twice a day and floss regularly. Take your kids to see the adolescent dentist at Pedodontic Associates every six months so their specific needs can be addressed.

For more on dental care services available at Pedodontic Associates, visit their website. Call (808) 487-7933 to make an appointment at the Aiea (Pearlridge) office, (808) 735-1733 to contact the Honolulu office, or (808) 877-0066 to contact the Maui office.