As a parent you have many responsibilities. You are responsible for providing your children with an education, food, shelter, clothing and making sure that they remain safe. The list of your duties goes on and on. With all that you have to do, you may not be able to pay enough attention to protecting your child's teeth. It is however an extremely important duty. Protecting your child's teeth now will help them for the rest of their life and could save you thousands of dollars in future dental bills. Here are a few tips to help you maintain your child's dental health.

Set Up Regular Doctors Visits
The most important thing to do is to set up regular doctors visits. Once your child reaches the age of one, you should see to it that they visit the dentist every six months. By doing so, you will catch problems early before they become more painful and more expensive.

Establish Good Oral Hygiene
Establish good dental habits early with your child. Teach them to brush their teeth at least twice a day. Make sure that they also floss at least once per day. If you establish an oral hygiene routine early in life, chances are that they will stick with it forever.

Protect Their Teeth From Injury
You can not prevent every injury, accidents do happen. You can however prevent some injuries. If your children play sports, have them wear a mouth guard. Mouth Guards prevent thousands of oral injuries every year but could prevent thousands more. They should be worn in all physical sports, not just football or hockey. They can be injured just as easily in soccer, baseball, basketball and just about every other sports involving physical contact.

Stop Bad Habits
Thumb and pacifier sucking should be stopped as soon as possible. After the age of 2 pacifier sucking can have a great negative impact on how their teeth come in.

Establish A Healthy Diet
Limit how much sugar your child eats. Sodas and candy will eat away at your child's teeth. Get them in the habit early of not overindulging in sugary snacks.

These are just a few simple things that you can do to assure that your child has good dental health. Your children may not want to do all of them but one day they will thank you for making them.