I like to call this photo the million dollar smile.
I currently have THREE kids in braces and one more who is “just about ready” as they like to say at the orthodontist office. While I’ve always felt it is important for my kids to develop healthy habits when it comes to taking care of their teeth and once we started paying for braces it became one of my biggest priorities as a mom.
Considering I could be traveling Europe or driving a brand new SUV with the money we’re spending to put braces on SIX kids, I want to make sure their smiles stay beautiful for many, many years.
My kids have been visiting the dentist since they were toddlers. They’ve always loved the dentist (you know sunglasses and a free toothbrush) but I wanted to give them a little incentive to help them develop healthy habits.. While brushing is a great start, and very important, there were several additional habits I wanted to instill in them so whether they had braces or not, their smiles would be healthy and beautiful.
About ten years ago I realized that our co-pay for a filling was about $30. We hadn’t had any fillings yet, but I knew without proper habits it was probably going to happen. Seven kids, thirty-two teeth each… you do the math. 🙂
My kids are VERY motivated by money so I decided to pay them $10 each time they went to the dentist and didn’t have any cavities. While our first dentist thought we were crazy for paying out $60-$70 every six months, I knew that not only was I saving money by not paying for fillings, I was also helping my kids develop good habits that they would continue long after they stopped getting paid for having cavity free teeth.
Here are some of the ways we encouraged them to earn their $10 every six months and develop healthy habits.
We moved the toothbrushes out of the kids’ bathroom.
With so many kids and brushes, keeping them hidden in the kids’ bathroom usually meant the kids brushed unsupervised or made a ridiculous mess. We moved them into the kitchen for a while and then into my bathroom.
When they were in the kitchen, the kids were always supervised while brushing and when they were in my bathroom I would remember to remind them to brush multiple times a day when I was brushing.
We assigned colors/ characters for each child.
This is so simple, but if my kids had a toothbrush with their favorite character on it, they wanted to brush more often. Also when their toothbrushes all looked the same no one ever knew which brush was theirs and everyone was always blaming each other for lost brushes.
We helped them floss.
Getting our kids to floss wasn’t usually that hard because they thought it was something fun and new. Buying them their own floss and making it seem like a big deal was usually our way to encouraging them to keep up the flossing habits.
Every single one of our family dentists has stressed the importance of flossing, and now with braces it is even more important since food stuck in teeth and braces can cause spotty discoloration and decay around the brackets. (Not good!)
LISTERINE® ULTRACLEAN® floss features MICRO-GROOVES® Technology to remove more plaque, and my kids love having their own box! We’ve even gone as far as writing their name on the box with a sharpie to help keep us organized.
We give them toothbrushes every Christmas.
If we are giving them a stocking full of candy, it always made sense to get them a toothbrush to help clean up the mess!
We limited soda, juice, and sticky candy.
When our oldest was six, she was at the dentist and as the dentist was finishing up she said to my daughter,
“Remember, only one soda a week.”
My daughter looked at my husband and said, “I’m allowed to have one soda a week!!!!!” We laughed because our daughter, who probably had one soda every six months, thought the dentist was giving her permission to drink more soda!
From the time our kids first started eating and drinking real food we’ve encouraged water and milk over every other drink. While most of our kids would probably love it if we kept lots of soda and juice in our house, we try to keep healthier options on hand so it is easy for them to make a better choice.
Helping kids develop healthy habits does not happen overnight. It is consistent reminders and giving them the tools needed to get into a routine. There is a wide variety of LISTERINE® products to help with your family’s smile (some new ones too!) including floss, rinse, and travel packs.
Creating healthy habits doesn’t have to be a chore. Remember to keep things fun and focus on the positive behavior to help them take those habits into adulthood.
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