Time to Brush Your Teeth Children!

It is always worrying how many sweets or chocolate your children consume, especially after events like Halloween, Christmas or even birthday parties!  Sweets and chocolate are often the first tool to quieten the children down - they can't scream and shout if they are eating!  It will give you some respite but there is the risk of dental decay.  Instead of giving them sweet/chocolate treats, why not replace it with low sugar or sugar free options.  Or keep it to a minimum to prevent tooth decay.  I only allow them to have a small piece of chocolate each day after school.Mr K recently lost two of his front baby teeth and he had his first visit to the dentist.  Now he and Ms C are signed up for a regular six month check-up at our local dentist.  This is him having his first dental check up.

Oasis Dental Care are challenging us to outline the issues we faced 'before' and then to describe the 'after' effect of their tips on the children's dental health routine.
These are some of brushing tips:

• Children should brush their teeth for two minutes at least twice a day - after breakfast and before bedtime - with a pea-sized amount of children;s toothpaste which is specially formulated for their needs.
• They should also floss teeth every day.
• Make sure your child is using a soft brush and keep an eye on them until they are around seven years of age, to make sure they are brushing properly.  Before then, children may not fully understand the importance of giving their teeth a good brush or may do it too hard - causing damage to their delicate gums.
• They should start at the end of one row of teeth and use light circular motions along the whole line before beginning on the other row.  Make sure they brush the front, back and top surface of each tooth.
• Instead of rinsing their mouths after brushing, children should just spit out the toothpaste.  This will leave the beneficial fluoride from the toothpaste in their mouths.
• Replace the whole family's toothbrushes every three months, or after illness.

Until now, I was not aware that they sold children's dental floss.  I had always used our adult dental floss with them instead.  This Hello Kitty dental floss looks fabulous!  I also did not know that children should spit out the toothpaste and not to rinse!  Unfortunately we've all become accustomed to spitting out the toothpaste now so they were not keen to leave it.Both of my children love their electric toothbrush and they were so excited to use it!  We'll have to see how long it lasts, but they are currently looking forward to brushing!
Disclosure: We have received a box of goodies to do this challenge.