Sweet Smart Oral Care Challenge

This box arrived at my house yesterday to help my family participate in the Listerine Smart Rinse Sweet Smart Oral Care Challenge. We now have a variety of toothbrushes, mouth rinses, and floss to try.

When caring for your teeth, brushing is not enough. It is important to brush for 2 minutes and rinse for 60 seconds with a fluoride-based mouthrinse twice a day. It is also important to floss any teeth that touch at least once a day.

We will be brushing, flossing, and rinsing with our new supplies, for the next three weeks. Katarina was especially excited to try this pink Listerine Smart Rinse because it is Bubblegum flavored.

While I do recommend making sure your kids are brushing their teeth (if they are younger than 8 you should actually do the brushing for them!), I don't recommend trying to take pictures from strange angles to reduce flash glare in the mirror. The picture will come out a little blurry, and according to Katarina, it is distracting. I can't imagine why she would say that.

Let's Talk About Kids and Oral Health:

• Of the 4 million kids born each year, more than half will have cavities by the time they reach 2nd grade.
• 4.5 million children develop pediatric dental disease every year, with 44% of American children suffering from pediatric dental disease before they reach kindergarten.
• Left untreated, pediatric dental disease can lead to malnourishment, bacterial infections, required emergency surgery, and even death
• Dental disease has been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, pneumonia, poor pregnancy outcomes, and dementia

Pediatric dental disease is America’s most common chronic childhood illness. But pediatric dental disease is not only treatable and curable, it is completely preventable through basic education and proper oral hygiene practices.

For more information about kids and oral health, and to find out how you can make a difference for a child in need, check out the National Children’s Oral Health Foundation: America’s ToothFairy.

We are going to use this chart we found in our box to keep track of our progress over the next three weeks.

What do you do to get your kids to brush their teeth? 

Legal Stuff: I was provided oral care products from Johnson & Johnson and the Motherhood to help me participate in the Sweet Smart Challenge and I was also compensated for my time. All opinions are my own, and I was not required to say nice things.