Halloween is just around the corner and children everywhere will be indulging in lots of candy and fall festival sweet treats. It’s a time of year that can be dreaded by parents and dentists everywhere.

Even though we love Halloween I always try to make sure that candy is consumed in moderation and that brushing is happening at least twice a day. Em has braces and it’s even more important for her to practice good oral health care so that cavities don’t form around the brackets on her teeth.

Using LISTERINE® SMART RINSE® twice a day, once in the morning and once at night, provides 24 hour cavity protection. This has been recommended to us by both our dentist to keep her teeth safe from cavities. She’s had her braces a couple years now and so far so good in the no cavities department.

 

I participated in a conference call about oral health recently and learned some very interesting facts:

*Oral disease has become the number one chronic childhood illness in the U.S.

*Millions of children suffer from rampant tooth decay, which affects their ability to eat, sleep, and learn

*LISTERINE® SMART RINSE® is proud to team up with America’s ToothFairy® to eliminate pediatric oral disease and promote overall health and well-being for underserved children nationwide.

*44% of American kids suffer from dental disease before they reach kindergarten.

*Sadly, 43% of Americans lack dental insurance

We do a pretty good job of brushing twice a day,  but we aren’t as consistent with flossing and rinsing. Over the next three weeks we are challenging ourselves to try for a twice daily trifecta of brushing, flossing, and rinsing. Listerine even provided us with a handy record keeper that I placed on the fridge so that we can track our progress.

I think this flossing tool will be very helpful in making sure that we are flossing twice a day.

I love all the types of toothbrushes available from Reach®. I think kids find the character toothbrushes fun and they look forward to using them. Em dibbed the Phinus and Ferb toothbrush.

I encourage you and your family to join us in this challenge as well. Starting good oral health care while they are children will ensure good habits for life. Check back in a couple weeks for an update on how well we succeeded in completing brushing, flossing, and rinsing twice a day.

Disclaimer: I received products from Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the LISTERINE® SMART RINSE® Sweet Smart Challenge. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Cheers,