Floss!

I didn't really have anything super awesome to eat this week that was vegetarian that I haven't already shared so I thought I'd just share this tidbit of info.  Floss your kids teeth.  If you're like me, you kind of consider flossing as going that extra mile.  People in movies use it as a way to prove that they're "good" people. "I always do what I'm supposed to!  I even floss my teeth!"  However, my kids dentist (Dr Stephen Girdlestone, a pediatric dentist in Canton--HIGHLY recommend him!) told me that I really should be flossing all of my kids teeth.  ALL of them.  That includes Olivia and even Caden.  He told me that every night he has all of his kids put their head in his lap and he flosses their teeth for them.   He has 4 kids too so he realizes that's a lot of flossing.  But he told me this one thing that really made me take him seriously since ALL dentists tell you to floss.  "If your'e going to skip one thing, I'd rather see it be brushing than flossing."  This kind of changed things for me.  It made a lot of sense at the time since he had just finished telling me that Vince had yet another cavity between his teeth.  How often do you see or hear someone say they have a cavity in the middle of their front tooth?  It's always in the back nestled in there.

 Evan, for the record, is fanatical about oral hygiene.  We were on vacation once and ran out of floss.  The next time someone said they were going to the store he asked them to pick up some floss, waxed, of course.  He takes this stuff seriously.  As he should.  Recently and even not so recently he's had root canals, fillings, crowns and soon, he's venturing into the world of braces! I spent more time at the dentist as a kid than any other doctor so I too, understand the importance of taking care of your teeth. Caden already has 3 crowns and both Vince and Ellie have been in for fillings.  It sounds like we don't ever have our kids brush, but we do!  I swear it!  As a family, we just have cavity prone teeth.

So, I started flossing the kids.
 Evan thinks it's gross so it's my job every night.  I have to chase Vince and Olivia occasionally, but now that we're used to it as part of the bedtime battle we can floss everyone pretty quickly.  Olivia has been a big fan of dental floss for years for some odd reason.  She still LOVES floss and we have to hid it so she doesn't get ahold of it and pull it all out.  All the kids like the mint flavor of it and I've caught more than one of them trying to chew it like gum.  Caden, Ellie and Vince will just hold still and let me do it for them, but Olivia is more of a challenge.  She wants to do it herself, just like everything else, but of course, she can't.  So we've done battle and what I've found that works for her is that someone else will floss her teeth.  Each night I ask her who's going to floss her teeth.  I'm always hoping for The Count since he's easy to do, but Cookie Monster alright too.  Big Bird is a real challenge because what's his deal?!?  I have no idea how to floss like Big Bird so I'm always just talking about friends and trying to get it done fast before she figures out I'm not really doing anything Big Birdy.  Recently she's requested "Mom" which is, of course, the easiest to do.  Vince and Liv both don't have many molars yet and therefore they have lots of spaces between their teeth as well so they make for a quick floss.  Caden's a bit more challenging with his cemented in retainer behind his front teeth and all those crowns in the back, but he's also the most patient which is a happy coincidence.

So there it is.  The oddest blog post yet.  I just thought it was worth sharing since I bet most people don't realize how important it is to floss young kids' teeth.  It was daunting at first, flossing all 4 of them during an already chaotic bedtime, but it's just one more thing we do before bed now and not at all hard.  If Big Bird and the Count can do it, how hard can it be?  I LOVE to count teeth! Ahh Ahh Ahh!