Each year as my kids get older and faster they are able to knock on more doors Halloween night and bring home a bigger candy haul than the year before. This year each of my two kids filled one of those plastic pumpkin pails…twice. That’s a lot of potential sugarbugs sticking to their teeth and causing cavities.
Thankfully for the past few weeks our family has been taking the Listerine Smart Rinse Oral Care Challenge! Click back here for a review on how we got started with that. At the beginning of the challenge each kid got their own new toothbrush, some dental floss with flossing tools and each got their own bottle of Listerine Smart Rinse.
Nathan chose the Phineas and Ferb toothbrush and the bubble gum flavored rinse. Alex chose the Batman toothbrush and mint flavored rinse. Alex in particular loved the whole challenge and was more than happy to brush, floss and rinse twice a day. His teeth are so spread apart that flossing isn’t quite as vitally important for him, according to his dentist.
But Nathan’s teeth are packed tightly in his mouth and we have to be vigilant against the sugar bugs to ward off cavities! I’m especially glad that Nathan liked the Smart Rinse because I learned that it strengthens kids teeth 99% better than just brushing.
We used a dry erase board chart to mark off when they had completed their oral care routine both before school in the morning and before bed at night. The kids loved checking off their boxes.
I didn’t need a chart to take on the challenge personally, I know how poorly I have taken care of my teeth lately. The new Reach Total Care Plus Whitening floss I got was much easier to use than my previous flosses. After a few days of consistent brushing, flossing and rinsing I got to the point where my gums don’t bleed when I floss! That’s a huge success for me and incentive enough to keep going.
Disclosure: I received products from Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNeil-PPC, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the Challenge. As always, my words are still my own.
