The way to develop a healthy lifestyle is prevention from the start. Parents must teach their children by example.
One basic, key example is getting children to brush their teeth every day, after meals or eating sweets. This instills the importance of preserving their teeth. By the time they grow up, they will have built good habits to last a lifetime, such as flossing and getting physical check-ups regularly.
This article accompanied an interview with the author of “Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America” in the May 31, 2017 edition of Street Sense.