OT: Dental Hygeine

[psophia17]

I just found out our area has a dental program for kids 6 and under, where I can take the boys to have their teeth quickly checked over and painted with flouride. Now I have to floss N's teeth, which is a PITA but I'm trying. As part of the regimen, I'm trying to set an extra-good example for both of them...

What's your regimen?

Mine is:
Rinse with a plaque-loosening mouthwash (Plax? Act? I forget which I have...)
Brush, left to right, top first, then bottom
Floss at night, every other day (I'm building up to 1x a day)

[kijip]

Morning:

Brush and floss after breakfast

Night:

Listerine Whitening Prerinse
floss
brush with my trusty old style Sonicare
regular listerine or listerine knockoff
ACT flouride rinse

I have very crowded back teeth until I get around to needed orthodontics so I do everything I can to prevent tooth decay in the back of the mouth, which I am VERY prone too. I floss after meals that get food trapped in the back of my mouth too.

Toby brushes his teeth morning and night and then we brush them at night too. We floss his that touch at night.

[psophia17]

I have really close together teeth, too, and so does N (I didn't think so, but that's what I was told). What kind of floss do you use? I have to work to get floss in between mine, and I almost always end up injuring my gums somewhere in the process. Being pg made it 10x worse, and now I have sensitive areas at the gumline. I'm told direct treatment with flouride will help, but I don't have dental coverage, so that could be expensive...

[kijip]

It took a long time to get used to the dental floss on the tightly spaced teeth- I used any floss now, but I used to use a very thin waxy thing called Dental *tape* as opposed the floss. Oral B makes it, I think. It made it easier.


****Rocking out while parenting my smart little 4 year old munchkin Toby.
The butter melts out of habit, you know the toast isn't even warm. -Ani DiFranco

[hwin708]

I personally like to use floss picks like these:
http://www.usdentek.com/products/silk_floss.aspx

They're just so much easier to use than regular floss. They work well with tight teeth too because you can basically bite down and push the floss up through your teeth, instead of struggling to pull it through. And unlike when you pull it through, and it suddenly gives, and you hit your gums too hard, when you bite, you kind of control the pressure, so you don't ever overexert and hit the gums.

I also find these a lot easier to use with the kids.

I'm not really brand specific - I use whatever's there and is cheapest. Which is generally the Dentek - typically about $3 for 90, which is 3 months supply for one person, if you floss every day.