Instilling good oral health habits into your kids is important to ensuring that your kids are less likely to suffer from major oral health problems in the future. However, many parents make mistakes without realizing that they are mistakes. Here are four that you need to avoid:

1. Letting Kids Brush Alone: Brushing your kids teeth should be a family affair. Brushing your teeth together is a great way to motivate your kids and make teeth brushing seem fun instead of like just another chore. Plus, this gives you an opportunity to make sure that your kids are brushing properly. 
2. Making the First Dentist Appointment too Late: To get your child motivated to go to the dentist, you need to schedule their first appointment early in life. Many times, parents wait until they think their kids are old enough. However, kids should be visiting the dentist by the time they are one-year-old. If you wait until later, your kids are sure to fight it and since they won't be used to regular dental appointments, they are sure to not understand the purpose of the importance of it. If you schedule with a pediatric dentist, you can be sure that they are going to be equipped to work with your young child. 
3. Not Using Fluoride Toothpaste: There are plenty of claims out there that state that fluoride is not good for your kids. However, this is not the case so long as you are monitoring how the fluoride toothpaste is used. You need to get your children used to spitting once they are done brushing and not swallowing the toothpaste. If your kids are old enough, talk to them about why it's important to spit and rinse. The reason fluoride should be used is because it helps get rid of bacteria on the teeth more easily. 
4. Letting Kids Drink too Much Juice: You need to be sure that your kids are drinking water more than juice. In fact, you should think of juice as a dessert more so than a regular drink. This is because the sugar in juice sits on the teeth, messes with the pH balance in the mouth, and causes cavities. 

When you avoid these four common mistakes, you can be sure that your children have better oral health habits. In the end, this is going to save you money on their oral care over the years and ensure that they enter adulthood with a beautiful smile that they will know how to care for.