Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Taking Care of Our Pearly Whites

On President's Day, the kids and I were discussing the old wives tale that George Washington had wooden teeth. The conversation took an interesting turn as we began to discuss their recent focus on their own personal hygiene.

When they were smaller, it was often a battle to get the kids to brush their teeth. As a mom, I was overwhelmed and frustrated with the best way to get them on board.

Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease affecting children in the U.S. today. Statistics show that 50% of kids will have at least 1 cavity or filling between the ages 5 - 9!

The statistics get even more frightening when you realize that brushing your teeth alone misses germs in 75% of our mouths. EWWW!

As part of an Oral Care Challenge in my own home, I have received LISTERINE and Reach products from Johnson & Johnson to work on developing some oral care best practices for myself and my children.

In addition to committing to brushing twice a day - at a minimum - we will be rinsing twice a day with LISTERINE products to kill as many of the cavity and decay causing germs in our mouths a we can!

Each of the kids has stashed some LISTERINE in their locker to rinse after lunch. And as a challenge to herself in the mornings, my daughter is rinsing after she brushes to make sure she got all of the "sugar bugs".

We have hung a brushing chart on the towel rack, and each of the kids will me marking it with their initials each time they brush throughout the day. The winner of the challenge will get dibs on the Phineas and Ferb SmartRinse that came in our complementary oral care package! (Yes, even at 11 & 13, they can be won over by Phineas and Ferb!)

I encourage you to start your own Oral Challenge with your family! Get more information at http://www.walmart.com/AHA/Listerine/Reach or follow along with the Twitter hashtag #healthyhabits!

Also, I would love to hear some of your family's best oral care practices! How do you encourage your kids to brush? Do you rinse? How many times a day do you brush, rinse, or floss?

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 mine.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

My MIL would love this post! She's a dental hygienist and always talks about Lysterine. I'm feeling convicted about using it more, especially with the kids!

Unknown said...

My MIL would love this post! She's a dental hygienist and always talks about Lysterine. I'm feeling convicted about using it more, especially with the kids!

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