How Do You Encourage Good Oral Hygiene in Your Kids? (Win a $25 Visa Gift Card!)

by Mandi on June 22, 2011

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dental hygiene for kids

Over the next few months, I’ll be participating in The Switch & Save Challenge, trying a variety of Arm & Hammer products and sharing my experiences with you!

This giveaway is now closed! The winner is Sadie (sadiebeery@…)!

Although baby teeth will become the tooth fairy’s property eventually anyway, good oral hygiene is important for kids because it lays the foundation for healthy teeth for a lifetime.

To teach my babies to brush their teeth I start by having them say “eeeee” and “ahhhh” while I brush their front teeth and their back teeth as quickly as I can before handing the toothbrush over to them to brush some more. In this way, we try to make it fun rather than something that’s a fight every time, and my girls almost always rush to the bathroom to brush their teeth.

Answer the questions below and enter to win a $25 Visa gift card! Today I want to know…

How do you encourage good oral hygiene in your kids?

Do you have songs you sing or games you play to make sure they brush well?

Have you ever dealt with a fear of the dentist in one of your kids? How do you work through that?

How many times a day do your kids brush their teeth?

Do your kids floss? (Mine don’t…)

Giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, 7/1. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their name as well!

This is a sponsored post for Church & Dwight Co., Inc, the maker of ARM & HAMMER branded products, who is paying me to try different products. Save $1 on Advance White Brilliant Sparkle Toothpaste. And then head over to The Switch & Save Challenge to keep up with all of the bloggers and enter to win $25,000.

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  • Melissa

    I have 3 kids so each of them I have had to take a different approach toward.

    Conner is 7 and he does a pretty good job with brushing his teeth.  He just doesn’t do it long enough, so I found a toothbrush holder that has a timer on it.  He just flips the timer when he starts and knows he has to brush his teeth until the sand runs down to the bottom.

    Sarah is almost 3 and HATES to have her teeth brushed and always has.  I think I waited too long to start brushing with her.  I waited till she had teeth to brush and would just wipe her mouth out with a cloth when she was a baby.  So now she has a spinbrush and loves to brush her teeth.  It has her favorite characters from Sesame Street on it.  A bit more expensive, but in the long run cheaper if we don’t have bad teeth!

    Then there is Charlie who is 6 months old.  I found the little rubber gum brush that you loop around your finger and she loves brushing her gums with this brush.  I really want her to get use to brushing now so she will not fight me so much when she gets teeth. PLUS she is teething and really enjoys the brush on her gums.  

    Hope any of this information can be a blessing to someone else. 

    <
    Melissa

  • Leigh

    We keep toothbrushing supplies upstairs for the bedtime brush and downstairs for the lunchish brush

  • Melissa M.

    How do you encourage good oral hygiene in your kids? I try to practice good oral hygiene myself. I alos let them pick out their toothbrush, I pick the toothpaste.
    Do you have songs you sing or games you play to make sure they brush well? We set a timer
    Have you ever dealt with a fear of the dentist in one of your kids? How do you work through that? no, my kids don’t seem to have a fear, but it might help to see  if the dentisit will let you see the place before the appointment.
    How many times a day do your kids brush their teeth? 2-3 sometimes more durin the summer
    Do your kids floss? sometimes, we like to use the kid friendly flossers

  • Jen Fields

    we sing the Barney song “Now I’m brushing my teeth on the bottom, cause I wouldn’t want to say that I forgot them……” It makes them laugh and gets them totally into the whole process every time!

  • JM

    When DD was younger, we brushed her teeth using eee and ahh, too. Now that she’s 4, we watch her brush and then get the spots she missed. She’s very independent, so she responds well to the goal of trying to get every spot herself so we don’t have to help. None of her teeth touch yet, so we only floss if she gets something stuck along her gums. She picks out her own toothbrushes and toothpaste. And she watched my dentist appointments before having her own.

  • JM

    When DD was younger, we brushed her teeth using eee and ahh, too. Now that she’s 4, we watch her brush and then get the spots she missed. She’s very independent, so she responds well to the goal of trying to get every spot herself so we don’t have to help. None of her teeth touch yet, so we only floss if she gets something stuck along her gums. She picks out her own toothbrushes and toothpaste. And she watched my dentist appointments before having her own.

  • Kristy

    My daughter is 2 and this is something we’re working on getting better at.  She brushes her teeth twice a day.  Sometimes I let her brush my teeth while I brush hers. 

  • http://bitoffruitcake.blogspot.com/ Danyelle

    My kids generally brush their teeth 2x a day and floss a couple times a week.  I sing a song to get them to brush their teeth.

  • Lisa

    I try to surprise them with a disclosure tablet from the Dentist every now and then to show them where they are not brushing good enough.  Your Dentist will gladly give you a small amount FREE to encourage brushing.  We also back things up with a swish of ACT or other mouth rinse.

  • Lisa

    I try to surprise them with a disclosure tablet from the Dentist every now and then to show them where they are not brushing good enough.  Your Dentist will gladly give you a small amount FREE to encourage brushing.  We also back things up with a swish of ACT or other mouth rinse.

  • Anonymous

    We brush together and sometimes with music, these help a lot. Three times a day after each meal and we floss before brushing.

  • Nancy

    Singing songs  or telling jokes during brushing time keeps the atmosphere fun and enjoyable!

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

  • Continuously_confused

    This is a struggle at my house to remember to remind my kids to brush. We’ve used chuck e cheese calendars that are available at the website and also we’ve purchased the singing toothbrushes that play music the appropriate amount of time. These help!

  • Sue D

    I didn’t have any trouble getting my kids to brush.  They did it after every meal and before bedtime.  It was just part of the routine.

  • http://twitter.com/NewToMom Michelle Brown

    We start by letting him choose his toothbrush and paste. He also loves going to the dentist. He is 3 and has gone 2 times. He even let them floss on the second visit. I think he enjoys it because he leaves with a bag full of goodies.

    • http://twitter.com/NewToMom Michelle Brown

      should have left my email:  newtomom @gmail.com

  • http://wp.me/P1oHEl-2 Sandra @ the special marathon

    My first child is a special needs kiddo (but all these techniques worked with our daughter as well) so we had a lot of issues around teeth brushing.  One way we found to not have teeth brushing be a battle is put up a picture chart of the steps to brushing your teeth.  You can draw the steps or take pictures of someone doing the steps and print them out.  There are eight steps total, step one- wet toothbrush, step two- put toothpaste on the brush, step three and four- brush front and back of teeth, step five-rinse mouth, step six-spit in sink, step seven-wipe mouth and step eight-rinse toothbrush.  Our kids loved looking at the chart and being praised for doing all the steps themselves.As for going to the dentist, we watched a story about going to the dentist from a free app called Model Me Kids.  We watched it at home and while we were at the dentist in the waiting room.  This really helped my daughter.  She was really anxious about going to the dentist and seeing what to expect calmed a lot of her fears.We use fun colored flossers and let each child pick which color they was to use.

  • Mindfuhome

    My 18 month old loves to brush his teeth. I think the strawberry flavored toothpaste helps….

  • GinnyLou

    My kiddos are lucky, their dentist is their Daddy!  So, he’s always been the one to “enforce” tooth-brushing around our house.  Makes me a lucky mommy, too!  We are big fans of the singing toothbrushes, kid-friendly toothpaste, and a simple, non-nonsense approach.  We’ve talked about keeping the “cavity bugs” out of their teeth for as long as they’ve been able to hear, and brushing teeth at bedtime (we only do once a day, and no flossing for now) is as routine as putting on pajamas or reading the story.  Make it fun, and a pre-requisite for doing something even more fun (story, songs, whatever) has worked for us!

  • steph

    My kids are pretty good brushers and love the dentist.  Not so good at flossing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1070922406 Christine Busch

    My kids (are supposed to) brush 2x a day, in the mornings and before bed-they floss maybe once a year when they find the floss. :) My best tip is to use a timer set to 2 minutes and have them brush til it beeps. We found great timers at Dollar Tree-digital and easy for them to use. 

  • http://www.familybalancesheet.org Kristia@Family Balance Sheet

    I was never one to sing songs to my kids to get them to brush their teeth, but we made a big deal about buying their special toothbrush that they got to pick out.  We also made it a part of their nighttime routine.  Teeth had to be brushed to get books.  It is also a part of their morning routine.  I have not had a problem with teeth brushing or the dentist.  We take our kids to a children’s dentist and they are really good with the kids. We aren’t so good with flossing either.

  • Leilani

    We have kids toothpaste which they love and they also have fun toothbrushes. 

  • Jessica

    I brush my sons teeth twice a day and floss his teeth about once a week.  He likes to watch me brush in the mirror and copies what I do!  He does really well at the dentist now that we go for a celebratory lunch after each appointment!
     

  • http://nulandnews.blogspot.com/ Carmen

    My child is only 6 months old.  We haven’t tried cleaning her gums yet, but I know we should.  Singing songs sounds like a great way to make hygiene time fun.

  • http://joyceandnorm.wordpress.com Joyce and Norm

    We brush at the same time.
    We just sing, “This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth. This is the way we brush our teeth before we go to bed (or after we eat breakfast).”We are headed to the dentist next month for the first time for our older one. We read a book about dentist, and hubby and I are going in this month, so she will go with us to see what goes on.They brush twice a day. Yes, my older one flosses.We never had a problem with them not wanting to brush, but their teeth still don’t seem to be that clean, and we don’t drink sugary drinks or staining foods. =

  • http://profiles.google.com/steffiessweetsinsations stephanie miller

    the only thing that has ever worked with my kids is an egg timer, and me standing there watching!! LOL the egg timer worked pretty well for a while, then they got bored and tried to hurry it up…hence me standing there after that!! steph at steffiessweetsinsations@gmail.com

  • Sadie

    we sign songs while brushing

  • Sadie

    we sign songs while brushing

  • Angiechadwell

    Brushing teeth is actually listed on their chore charts, so that they must actually do it before putting a check mark in the box.

  • Linda

    I’m lucky – my two LOVE to brush their teeth, almost too much.  I don’t have to cajole them at all.  They each got to pick out a favorite toothbrush when their freebies from the dentist got worn (my little one is two and used hers as a substitute teether).  They also love to floss because I have one of those handled flossers and it seems to be a novelty.  My son also uses an anti-cavity rinse because he’s already got two tiny cavities.

    My son got introduced to the dentist a lot sooner than I’d have liked, after breaking off half of his front tooth when he was two.  That sort of instilled a fear of the dentist (not because anything bad happened to him…not much to do for a half-broken tooth, but moreso because the situation was new and unexplained at the time) especially since the dentist found two small cavities at his first official check-up.  He was CERTAIN he was going to get drilled and was petrified to go back.  I brought him with me to my next check-up and let him ask questions of the hygenist and the dentist and watch me get my teeth checked and cleaned and after a while he was more confident and less fearful.  The promise of a goodie bag and a treasure from the treasure chest on the way out didn’t hurt either!

  • http://rosemaryevergreen.blogspot.com/ RosemaryEvergreen

    My history of cavities is good motivation for encouraging good dental hygiene in my daughter.  I think that flossing is the key and she has flossed since age 5 or 6 with those disposable flossers, which were recommended by our dentist as an easier way for kids to floss.  When she is older, we’ll move to regular floss, but for now, these make flossing possible for little hands.

    We often brush and floss together after dinner.  I find that when I am brushing with her, she brushes her teeth for a longer time.

  • Liz

    my kids brush twice a day.  when they were younger i would pretend to find animals or shapes or whatever in their teeth and brush them out, it always cracked them up!  they also really love the crayola light up toothbrushes!

  • Kate F.

    We have made brushing our teeth a part of our evening routine.  We don’t do anything special.  I just brush first and then let them take over.   I always have good intentions of brushing in the morning too but it is sporadic at best.  We rarely floss but maybe someday that will become a habit as well.  Luckily we have never had a fear of the dentist.  I hope that continues.

  • Tina M

    my kids brush twice a day. We let them pick toothbrushes of their favorite cartoon characters, and that helps get them excited about good oral hygiene.

  • Gailnittithompsom

    I actually go to the same dentist on the same checkup schedule. I lead by example because you don’t want mommy to have bragging rights for having no cavitis. Lol. We brush out teeth together a minimum of twice a day.

  • http://www.athankfullheart.blogspot.com Miranda

    My daughter loves to do whatever mommy does so so far it’s been pretty easy to get her to brush her teeth :) .

  • Miranda

    We use those disposable sea life flossers and my son doesn’t mind them the way he minded regular floss.

  • http://twitter.com/heinzmom SometimesUWin

    I got this from a friend, i told my son that the toothfairy pays more for cleaner teeth.. it worked!

  • Crystal K.

    We don’t have much of a problem during teeth brushing at our house. We make it fun with specially picked out brushes, but that’s about all it takes. After doing it for so long, it’s just routine now, I guess. No real dentist fears either, but ours is great! We do try to make sure brushing gets done twice a day, but sometimes it only happens once, of which I try to be understanding! Once is better than not at all, I say! And if flossing happens more than once a week, we’re doing good. ;)

  • aj

    We always sing twinkle twinkle little star!

  • http://profiles.google.com/kolpin4680 kolpin l

    i use flavored toothpaste!

  • http://www.lastingsmiles.com/?las-vegas-family-dentistry Bianca Jackson

    Encouraging a kid to practice correct oral hygiene and visit a dentist sounds quite challenging. You have to be careful about your words so your kid won’t fear the dental procedure. Yeah, it is good that you line up some activities during brushing. You can also choose cool toothbrushes to help motivate your kid to brush his teeth regularly.

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