Parents will do anything to make their children smile (or eat their dinner). Adding fun and excitement to daily routines will pique their interest and avert meltdowns and multiple medical problems--including oral health! Try out these fun games and activities to help make brushing your children's teeth fun.

Brushing teeth with music

Music makes everything better. Use it to your advantage when teaching your child how to brush by playing an upbeat song for 2 to 3 minutes singing their favorite nursery rhyme or making up a personalized song. Whenever you sync music into your brushing routine, make your child an integral part of the overall performance. Create a brushing play with your child starring.

Science experiments on how food can stain their teeth

A very popular, yet simple science experiment uses hard-boiled boiled eggs to demonstrate your child how fluoride and acids in food can dissolve teeth. Put one egg into one soft drink water for approximately 8 to 13 hours, then use an eggshell and notice how soft the substance was. Do the same experiment with other liquids like grape juice or like ours.

Create a DIY board game for your kids

Board games offer a great plan for family entertainment. Build an oral trivia game for kids following these steps. Collect 2 dice, hourglass timers, flashcards, a medium piece of cardstock, and a pencil. Write the answer to interesting and little-known dental trivia on the flashcards. Create a path in the shape of a dental circle.

Other teeth game ideas

Dentist games can allow you to brighten your child's time at the dentist by making it a fun place and not frightening.

• At four years old and up, your child should help you put on their dentist hat as they are attempting to locate the sore tooth of the crocodile with the treasure chest from this game.

• Using cardboard, draw a mouth and cut out molds in the shape of teeth. Give your kids real toothpaste (or something they can pretend as toothpaste) and place play-doh as food particles for them to brush them out
  
• Make believe you're at the dentist and have your kids dress up as a dentist. Please a desk lamp nearby and add household items to create a make-believe environment

By engaging your child with games and activities, you'll create fun memories together and inspire them to take responsibility for their oral health – and isn't that any parent's dental health dream?