Dental care resources help you make educated dental health care decisions.

Dental care resources: find the information you need to make educated dental health care decisions - for yourself and for your family.

Use this information to find out more about what helps keep your family’s teeth and gums healthy - and to discover ways to share the news about dental services with people of all ages in your family. Here goes!

1. The quality of dental care products that you choose can make a big difference in the oral health of your entire family

   . To help you with your shopping list, here’s a list of more than 400 dental health care products with the American Dental Association (ADA) Seal of Acceptance. These products include “toothpaste , dental floss , manual and electric toothbrushes , mouth rinse and chewing gum.”

2. Find fun ways to share dental care tips with your children.

   One of the easiest ways is to print out dental pictures that your children can color. Use this coloring time as a way to talk about dental health without being pushy or too obvious about your goal. This will also be a great time to chat about an upcoming family dentist visit and what dental services your child should expect. Coloring pages can be found in many places online, including:
   

   • Coloring.ws
   • Preschool coloring book
   • First school

3. Enjoy dental health care games and activities with your elementary school aged children.

   Luckily, there are many web pages offering quality games for you to play that provide information about what a family dentist does and how he or she helps your family. Games and activities can be found at these sites:

   • Colgate
   • Kiddy House
   • American Dental Association
   • Crest

4. Address dental health care issues that worry your teenagers.

   If you have teenagers at home, then you don’t need us to tell you that what concerns them now is different from what mattered when they were in elementary school. Fortunately, About.com has provided information about many of these teenage concerns, including:

   • how to have fresh breath when at school or out with friends
   • whether or not oral piercings are safe
   • how to brush while wearing orthodontic braces
   • how to floss while wearing orthodontic braces

You can also find great sources of dental care information for the grown-ups in your family!

Check these out today:

• Crest’s overview of dental hygiene
• Dental health care tips by OralB
• An explanation of the ADA Seal of Acceptance
• Glossary of dental terms

Finally, be sure to choose the professional dental care team that provides just what you and your family need.

When choosing a family dentist, you’ll want one who is:

• welcoming and who explains procedures in a clear, understandable manner
• willing to answer your dental health care questions
• able to provide the range of dental services that your family needs, which may include orthodontic braces to tooth whitening and other cosmetic dentistry services to partial dentures or dentures
• able to provide dental services at an affordable price and who offers payment options and finance plans that suit your budget
• a preferred provider for most dental insurance plans - especially yours!

You’ll also want a family dentist who believes strongly in preventive dental care and who has the goal of providing care that gives you a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums.