Mum knows best

More than two in three (68 per cent) of us say it’s our mum who taught us how to brush our teeth as a child while findings showed that we’re almost four times as likely to be a self-taught brusher (18 per cent) as have been taught by our father (5 per cent). Learning how to brush our teeth at school or being taught by a sibling completed the list.

The survey also revealed less than half (45 per cent) of parents teach their children how to brush their teeth before the age of two, with one in four (23 per cent) showing them the dental ropes between two and five years old.

The importance of good oral health habits at an early age is illustrated by the level of childhood tooth decay in the United Kingdom. A recent report by the Health & Social Care Information Centre identified 12 per cent of three year olds suffer from visible tooth decay, with more than one in four (27 per cent) five year olds suffering with the same problem.