I adopted my son at age 10. Since he was at an age that I felt was capable of self-care skills, I didn't do more about his dental health than remind him to brush and floss. Then, one morning, I happened to be brushing my own teeth at the same time as he was brushing his. Well, the word "brushing" doesn't really apply to what he was doing. Rather than brushing, he did a quick swipe across the surface of his teeth and called it good. Needless to say, we've had a few lessons on how to properly care for your teeth and I supervise him more closely now.

A recent survey by the British Dental Health Foundation shows that lots of kids may not be getting the daily dental care that they need. The survey revealed that more than one in five children under five were left unsupervised when brushing their teeth. Odds are, these unsupervised kids were doing a lick and promise type of tooth-brushing like my son was. In addition, the survey showed that 1/4 of parents thought brushing once a day was enough, and 67% thought that a minute of brushing was sufficient (two minutes are recommended).

Proper dental care is so important for kids. Check out the gallery for some ideas to help care for your kids' teeth.