LISTERINE® SMART RINSE® Sweet Smart Oral Care Challenge #sweetsmart

Are your teeth as clean as you think they are?

FACT: [tweetherder]Brushing alone misses 75% of your mouth.[/tweetherder] SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT PEOPLE! That’s kind of gross when you think about it.

Ours weren’t! A couple of weeks ago I told you about a briefing session I had with Listerine and the Listerine Smart Rinse Sweet Smart Oral Care Challenge we were going to be taking. The challenge is to commit to brushing for 2 minutes, flossing and using a Fluoride rinse at least twice a day for 21 days. My kids and I all agreed to do the challenge together.

I received a box of goodies to help with the challenge and in that box was a calendar to help us keep track. I also some new toothbrushes, dental floss and Listerine Smart Rinse for the kids as well as Listerine UltraClean for me.

I admit, I’ve never been a flosser. For some reason, the floss seems to slip beneath my teeth. It has always done this. I could probably tell you the reason if I had ever been to a dentist. AHEM, I have not. As I mentioned in my first post, my mom took me, I screamed like a Banshee, they said don’t come back and we never did. The end. My son has always liked to floss his teeth. He is actually a good example for me because he likes to floss and I don’t. So mom needs to follow in son’s footsteps!

So I committed to this challenge and flossing is a part of it. And guess what? I’ve been doing it! The pre-filled flossers are great! They are SO easy to use. I don’t seem to have as many problems using those as I do individual pieces of floss.

I now know that isn’t a good thing. Even if I’ve never had problems with my teeth, that doesn’t mean they are healthy. And it doesn’t set a good example for my children. We have dental insurance and as long as we have it, it’s time I put it to good use.

Anyway, back to the challenge. There wasn’t really room for names on the calendar so we just listed each kid in order as 1, 2, 3 and 4. If they did all the steps at least twice a day they got a check mark on the calendar. At the end of the week if the calendar was full, we would have a movie and pizza party (usually we do movie night only once a month). So far, everyone is doing wonderful. My oldest daughter missed one day because she was so sick I don’t think she never made it out of bed. After that, she got right back into the routine.

Even though clean, healthy teeth is the ultimate goal, with kids, it is great to offer an incentive. And by offering one each week, they are more likely to follow through.

Our 3 year old LOVES brushing her teeth and having them brushed. For her, we floss using the little kids pre-filled flossers, then I set the timer and I brush her teeth for two minutes and then give her the toothbrush so she can practice brushing. Then we rinse. Then she has to look in the mirror to see her sparkly smile. She loves it and so far this routine works perfectly. I think that’s the KEY to getting your kids to brush and keeping them brushing. [tweetherder]Create an oral care routine, make it fun and it will stick.[/tweetherder]

A fluoride-based rinse like LISTERINE SMART RINSE provides 12-hour cavity protection and strengthens teeth 99% better than brushing alone. It acts like a magnet to grab particles left from brushing, and when your child spits out the mouth rinse, you can see the particles right there in the sink – proof that brushing alone is not enough.

The Smart Rinse is AWESOME! It is a Fluoride rinse that you use after brushing. It really gets in between your teeth and grabs the left over particles in your mouth. Then when you spit, you actually see what was left in there after flossing and brushing. It is nasty and amazing all at the same time. It really clings to stuff and since colors it so you can see it. The following picture is gross, I know, but you just have to see it in action.

On average, brushing should last two minutes and rinsing 60 seconds – which is about the length of a song. We have a handy timer, called the Twooth Timer, that times 2 minutes for brushing and can be set at 1 minute for rinsing. Any timer will work wekk but you can also play a 2 minute song on a cd player or on your phone to make it a little more fun. For all purchases of LISTERINE SMART RINSE at Walmart, you can download a song that your kids can brush/rinse to. Find songs at www.disney.com/phineasandferbmusic or www.barbie.com/listerinekids.

So, anyway, that is our challenge. We are still going strong and will continue using our calendar and earning incentives. It is fun, our teeth are healthier than ever before and as my 3 year old daughter says, “We are sparkly!”

DID YOU KNOW? (TWEETABLE TIDBITS)

For more information on helping kids with their oral care routine, you can visit www.ListerineKids.com (THERE IS A PRINTABLE COUPON), and you can shop for LISTERINE SMART RINSE and other oral care products at Walmart or www.walmart.com.

Join Trick or Treat for America’s ToothFairy. Just set up a virtual page for Halloween, invite friends and family to join you, and take on the opportunity to help raise money to care for a child in need.

You can learn more at AmericasToothFairy.org.

For more information on helping kids with their oral care routine, you can visit www.ListerineKids.com, and you can shop for LISTERINE® SMART RINSE® and other oral care products at Walmart or www.walmart.com.

Disclosure: I received products from Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the LISTERINE® SMART RINSE® Sweet Smart Challenge. All thoughts and opinions expresses in this post are my own.