Today we had our six month dental appointments, and once again we had five cavity free kids. The dentist is always pleasantly surprised when all five kids pass inspection.
I am not guaranteeing your children will be cavity free if you use my ideas, but it has worked for our family.
- No soda! Soda is beyond a special treat at our house, it is almost unheard of. Soda has absolutely no health benefits so why introduce it to your children. I had no cavities until I became a soda drinker.
- No juice. I rarely purchase juice, although my children do love it. My little ones never have juice in a sippy cup or bottle. When you are old enough to drink out of a real cup you can have juice, about 4 times a year.
- No gummies, fruit roll-ups, hard candy, and other sticky sweets. I don’t buy them so they don’t eat them. They stick to your children’s teeth and are very difficult for little kids to brush away.
- Cool toothbrushes. This might sound silly but kids really do like to brush more often with the help of Hello Kitty or a Power Ranger.
- Toothpaste they like. Before I would purchase toothpaste that was the least expensive, and sometimes the kids hated the flavor. While I can find their favorites on sale most of the time I will pay full price if necessary, it’s cheaper than a filling.
- Supervision. Kids need help brushing their teeth. Some kids can brush on their own at a young age, but others need help for much longer.
- Reminders. Every morning before school starts they are reminded to brush their teeth after breakfast. If I didn’t remind them sometimes they would forget.
- Incentive. This may not work for your family or budget but we pay our kids to stay cavity free. For every cavity free visit they are paid $10. This is a lot of money to a six year old. A filling costs us about $35 dollars per tooth, so they are rewarded for being diligent in their brushing.
So far our dental visits have been uneventful and profitable for our children. They like going to the dentist and are working hard to earn their $10 stay cavity free.
genesis says
I don’t get the whole juice is bad milk is good thing. You don’t give your kids juice because of the calories in it. What about milk? Milk is full of fat and hormones,AND CALORIES our children just don’t need. You can get calcium and vitamin D from fruits veggies beans meats(like hormone-free and organic chickens.) And take this into consideration: our babies breastfeed until around age 1 or 2, then we out them on COWS milk. why do we give our kids another species milk. cows,sheep and other animals breastfeed and then stop when their babies are X old cause they can eat real food,not go and breastfeed off of us!
oh and here is something funny: the rate of breast size in adolescent girl has increased by almost 40% in the last 30 years, some studies say its because of hormones put in milk.
stacey says
We watched a very interesting 20/20 a couple of weeks ago about the people in the Apalachian mountians. The show claimed that this area has the highest toothless rate in the country and in large part it was due to the huge amounts of soda these people drink. Especially Mt. Dew, there were mothers putting it baby bottles and sippies It was gross! I’ve never been big on giving my kids pop, but after watching that show I may never buy it again.
Susan says
Hello all,
My name is Susan and I work for The Natural Dentist – we make natural oral care products like mouth rinse and toothpaste for the whole family.
I LOVE this post! Especially since it’s so timely – February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. To recognize the month, The Natural Dentist is participating in some community events focusing on children’s oral care and we’re offering a special offer for blog readers. You can find out more about it here – http://www.thenaturaldentist.com/February
Keep up the good work!
Susan
susanm@thenaturaldentist.com
Anna @ Boogers,Bibs,Books&Bubbles says
Wow, that is incredible! My parents rarely gave us soda when I was growing up. I need to be like them (and you). I only have 1 child right now and it would be easy to start that. I do have a question though…when you kids go to relative’s houses or to their friend’s do they just know to say “no” or do you have to tell the adults? When we were younger my grandmother and my aunts would make a point to go against my parents and sneak us soda. It irritates me now to think about that! Your advice would be much appreciated. Thanks so much!
TheHappyHousewife says
Well, we don’t live near family so this hasn’t been much of an issue for us. As for friends our kids usually say no, but the really don’t go to people’s houses that we aren’t good friends with, so they know how we feel about these things anyway.
Our children do get an occasional soda or juice at Grandmas because they are only there once or twice a year, but both Grandma and the kids know they can’t drink it all day!
MrsScotsman says
Incentives for no cavities. Great idea. My daughter (3) is off to a great start with the dentist. This will help her to keep it up.
Jennifer Y. says
I have never really given too much thought to this (my little guy is only 2). But, I really like your list of tips. What a great reminder that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Lawanda says
My kids drink pop (or soda haha) as a treat. I don’t buy it often, except for my dh, who is addicted to Mt Dew code red… which caused him to have two cavities in weird places… the tops of his “I-teeth” Weird huh? The dental hygienist said Mt Dew causes it!!
He grew up and never had a single cavity til he started on that stuff!
I am constantly reminding my kids to brush their teeth. And they forget A LOT. But the fact that they are not washing them with sugar every day must help quite a bit, cuz they’ve never had a cavity!!
I had tons of them growing up. But of course, I ate cookies for breakfast (how did my mom let me do that?! I don’t know! LOL)
My kids LOVE water. And they love milk. And they drink juice or pop or yogurt smoothies, as treats 🙂
Aunt T says
I’ve been eating/drinking #1-#3 and have been cavity free for 31 years. I think a lot has to do with genetics. Thanks Mom & Dad!
Wendi says
Great ideas! We do most of those things here too (I won’t tell my kids about the pay for no cavities one, yet 🙂 We have watered down juice for breakfast, water for lunch, and milk for dinner – we’ve been doing this since at least the summer – and I think my kids have finally gotten used to it – and now my oldest (age 7) seems to actually prefer water – yay!
Amy Walton says
What a waste of money soda is. I grew up on way too much soda and sugary Hawaiian Punch. Soda was always a treat for my boys, too. They still both prefer good, clean water as their choice of beverage.
Heather says
We love cool toothbrushes around here. When the kids need new toothbrushes I take them to Target with me and they get to pick out the kind they want. Alex always likes his better when he gets to pick it out.
This doesn’t have much to do with cavities, but we also make sure that we always change our toothbrushes after we have been sick. It helps to keep the same things going around our family too much.
Nancy M. says
Cool ideas! I already do the no soda one. That is awesome to have so many kids with no cavities.
Ita says
What do your kids drink?
TheHappyHousewife says
My kids drink water for lunch and dinner and milk with breakfast. On special occasions we make lemonade.
Amy loves Bud says
I agree with you. I’ve got cavity free 10 yr old and 8 yr old kids. The other thing to watch is when they get a lot of their “big” teeth in, they have less space and they really have to floss at that point. No amount of good brushing can get in between those tightly packed teeth.
TheHappyHousewife says
Great point! Flossing is so important!
Lynn says
These are great tips, but of course I would think so since I am the wife of a dentist. 🙂 I agree pop and juice are a real problem with a lot of kids teeth. Kids now drink so many sugary drinks. Paying your kids to stay cavity free is a great idea. I wish more parents would use your tips. Thanks for the great post.
Angel says
I mostly agree. While my kids don’t have cavities they do drink juice. My little one is almost 2 but the oldest will be 10 in 2 days. She has no cavities but unfortunatly needs braces in a couple years. I just don’t make juice and soda a big deal. If they want it ok. I think b/c I don’t make it a forbidden she dosen’t want it. She will drink milk or water over anything else. Not really into kool aid either. I agree w/ the cool toothbrushes. My oldest likes the spin brushes. I can find them cheap at Big lots. Killing 2 birds I buy 2 a year and they go in the stocking and easter basket. This way she enjoys them and its one less thing to worry about putting in their basket. Tooth fairy knows santa & easter bunny so thats how i explain it. LOL
Upstatemomof3 says
Thanks for the tip. I like the paying for being cavity free. That is a really cool idea. Big Brother loves to brush his teeth and he even flosses. So, we are doing pretty well so far. 🙂
Carla says
Great ideas! My little guy hates brushing his teeth but I try to stay vigilant. I remember my sister costing my parents a fortune with fillings, I don’t want to repeat that!