Kids and Healthy Teeth

As a parent, there are so many things I think about when it comes to raising Little One.  When she was an infant, I went all Terms of Endearment and climbed into her crib and placed my ear by her mouth to hear if she was breathing.  I even did the mirror test and was happy to see that her breath made the mirror all fogged up. It meant that our little preemie was breathing. Yes. I was that mom.

Now that she’s five years old, I’m paranoid about oral hygiene and want to ensure that she has healthy teeth!

Do your kids love brushing their teeth?  Is it a challenge to get your children to brush and floss?  Oral hygiene is paramount for our kids’ overall health.  We tell them they need a certain number of hours of sleep each night, they need to wash their hands after going to the bathroom and when coming home from school.  We also tell them that they need to eat their veggies, that too much sugar is not good for their teeth.  As parents, we’ve become experts at creativity and teaching our kids healthy habits through sometimes unconventional means!

C’mon. Tell me  you’ve never invented an “it’s important to eat your veggies” song and dance?!

Actually, my little one loves her veggies, so that’s never been an issue here. Please don’t hate me.  She is also obsessed with oral hygiene.  I don’t know how or why this happened, but she is a stickler for rules. Rules regarding brushing teeth are especially important to my five year old.

THE RULES (of brushing teeth…according to Little One):

1. Wet your toothbrush with lukewarm water. Not cold. Not hot. It has to be lukewarm. I don’t know why, but those are her rules.
2. Apply toothpaste onto toothbrush – the size of a pea. That’s actually my doing. I’ve told her a little bit goes a long way. Waste not, want not.
3. Brush, brush, brush. Front, back, up, down. Oh, and use a timer.  She has a Twooth Timer and uses it religiously.
4. Rinse with lukewarm water. Not cold. Not hot. It has to be lukewarm. She’s a stickler for routine!
5. Once done brushing teeth, get Mom to inspect mouth. Yes, she really does this.
6. Floss teeth with kids’ flossers.
7. Rinse with Starinse. This has to be her favourite thing to do these days. No, seriously. It is!

Our secret weapon against cavities and tooth decay

Have you heard of Starinse before? It’s the only Health Canada approved anticavity mouth rinse recommended for children as young as 9 months old.

Starinse uses naturally occurring Xylitol, which is a proven anticavity fighter. Starinse helps prevents early childhood cavities and lets children have better dental checkups.  Kids just have to swish Starinse in mouth twice daily for anticavity protection. There’s no fluoride, triclosan, preservative or artificial colouring agent. Starinse is also safe if swallowed.

Little One loves the lemon flavour and is the one who reminds me that she needs to rinse with Starinse!  I have to be honest here and will admit that I have tried rinsing with Starinse as well!  Like with everything I give Little One, I need to try it first.  Do you give your kids anything without trying it on yourself first?!  I was pleasantly surprised at how GOOD Starinse tastes!  Lemon also happens to be my favourite flavour!

Because I like to do my research, I perused the company website and also searched for articles online.  I was really interested in anticavity science.  You can read more about anticavity science and healthy teeth here. Check out Starinse on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Disclosure- We were sent a few bottles of the above product to facilitate this honest review.  As always, all thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are honest and my own.