My biggest parenting deficiency? Where do I begin. It’s not that, or that, or that, thankyouverymuch.
It’s dental hygiene.
It’s a terrible thing to admit, I know, but I am, uh, less than diligent about making my kids brush their teeth.
I know.
So when our friends at The Motherhood reached out and asked if I’d like to participate in the Listerine Healthy Habits for a Lifetime Oral Care Challenge, I thought that now’s as good a time as any (except, you know, like eight years ago) to start promoting healthy habits in my kids. After all, February is National Children’s Dental Health Month – we might as well celebrate.
The Challenge was kicked off in a webinar with oral care experts, and I learned some interesting things. Here are some tips for your kids from Dr. Kaneta Lott, DDS, a pediatric dentist:
–Make oral care fun (e.g., make it a game; brush, floss and rinse to music; etc).
–Reward their behavior (e.g., give gold stars for good oral care).
–Show, don’t tell – make oral care a family affair.
–Involve them in their own oral care routine by providing products like LISTERINE Smart Rinse, which can make the daily routine more fun, provides 12-hour cavity protection for kids and strengthens teeth 99 percent better than brushing alone.
I do… let’s see… none of those things.
And here’s more – I’m not a flosser. My teeth get flossed when I go to the dentist (which believe it or not, I do regularly), and that’s about it. I need to get on it, though, because according to the folks at Reach:
Many people don’t realize that brushing alone misses 75% of your mouth! And since there can be more germs in our mouth than there are people on earth, it’s more important than ever to make sure to do everything we can to keep our mouths healthy — including brushing, flossing and rinsing every day.
ohmahgah people, more germs in our mouths than people on earth.
Excuse me while I go floss real quick. And also gargle some bleach.
Anyway, to facilitate my participation in the Challenge, I received a box full of Listerine and Reach products – but to tell you the truth, we already had most of them! My kids have Reach toothbrushes and Listerine SmartRinse, and my husband can’t live without his regular Listerine. That stuff is a little much for me, so I was glad to find an alcohol-free version that’s a little less intense!
Of course, there’s also floss included… I am going to have to suck it up and get in the habit of using it.
I’ll report back in a few weeks to let you know how we’ve done with the challenge of basic grooming increasing our dental health, but until then, I’ve gotta know… am I alone here or do some of you struggle with getting your kids to brush their teeth well? If you don’t, any tips you could share with the rest of us?
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Disclosure: I received products and compensation from Johnson & Johnson and The Motherhood
as part of my participation in the Oral Care Challenge. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own, as I’m sure they don’t want to be complicit in my dental negligence.
As a child, I used to run water over my toothbrush and lie about brushing my teeth. Now, I’m obsessed with brushing my teeth. Funny how things change…I suppose it was all the trips to the dentist when I was a kid. I hated it!
Now, I have a great dentist, Dr. Randolph Gardner in Duluth GA. He’s awesome!
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As my grandfather was your dentist, I hope you had a great dentist back then too!
Actually, Mac, Dr. Bowers wasn’t my dentist. I went to Dr. Buck and then some guy in East Dayton…can’t remember his name…after that.
You crack me UP, cousin!! I am also not a flosser, and now you have got me SKEERED and about to go gargle some bleach as well! I’ve got some of that Listerine Zero, I am about to go crack it open! We’ve used the Listerine Smart Rinse before, and I need to go get some more. Both kids are good about brushing (especially since Joshua’s cavity incident) but wowza once again in light of that more germs in our mouths thing…EEEEEEK!
Flossing is a must! EVERY DAY!
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Dude. I’m right there with you. Last time we went to the dentist, she told me I need to be helping Ellie brush her teeth til she’s EIGHT. I pretty much just send her to the bathroom to do it herself, and she’s not even five. And we don’t floss. We’re supposed to be making a family fun activity, according to the dentist, but I really have better ideas of what constitutes fun. Glad to know I’m not alone!
I am laughing because well, your posts generally make me giggle. I’m a giant slacker with my kids teeth, but Chuck is almost obsessive with those things, so I let him take care of that. He makes sure they brush after dinner each night and in the morning before school. I take them to the coolest pediatric dentist around, but that’s where my job ends. Wish I had more to offer, but I don’t. Oh, and thanks for the reminder to get the kids new toothbrushes. I haven’t done that in forever….probably should.
I am so glad that I am not the only one. I didn’t even take my daughter to the dentist until she was four. We have found that a teeth brushing chart helps to motivate both of us!
Good luck!
Ellie, I didn’t take Sophie til she was four! She would’ve freaked out before then. But by then she was ready and now she LOVES going because she’s a weirdo!
We use the little flossers with handles. We keep a bag in the glove box in the car, and I tend to use them after visiting a restaurant, etc. For some reason, it’s hard to floss at home, but in the car… 🙂 They make cute little neon animal flossers for kids that Jack likes. But even with that, it is hard to brush/floss with him!
Brush teeth? Hah! I’m horrible at it myself, even getting to the dentist doesn’t happen like it should around here. I hang my head in shame every time I think about it.