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.

Source

When it comes to brushing your teeth, applying more pressure helps get your teeth as clean as possible, right? Wrong -- and you can even be doing your chompers some damage by cleaning them too hard, according to studies. Brushing too hard for too long--not to mention brushing improperly--can lead to problems like gum recession, periodontal disease and tooth sensitivity. Ouch!

Some tips:

• Make sure you use a soft-bristled tooth brush--ditch that hard or medium one pronto!
• Make sure you only brush your teeth for 2 minutes tops. Consider buying an electric toothbrush that will time it out for you.
  
• If you choose an non-electric brush, make sure you hold it at a 45-degree angle and brush up and down or in circles from the tip of the tooth right up to the gum line.

Source

Are you good are brushing your teeth well two times per day? Not so fast, according to Dr. Paul Warren, who thinks that most people are "no good" at brushing their teeth.

Dr. Warren, who works for Procter & Gamble (naturally), stated that "Odd as it sounds, most people are no good at brushing their teeth." Dr. Warren mentions the American Dental Association's suggestion that adults and kids brush each tooth to the gum line for two minutes each time they brush.

Problem is, most adults -- according to Warren -- don't do this at all. Instead, we brush haphazardly, concentrating on the front-and-center teeth and making short work of our molars.

Another failing: many of us brushers scour gum lines "like if plaque were bathtub grout." What to do, you may ask? The tooth brush, which can't really be refined any further, may be doing just that -- inventing new designs to overcome out impatience and incompetence in brushing. I can see the name now -- couch potato brushing.

Source

Are you proud of your teeth? Many are, although if each of them were to ask their dentist, they'd see frowns. that's because dentists are less happy with the condition of their patient's teeth and resulting smiles than the patients are.

Norwegian researchers said this week that although patients look at their teeth as one of the most important overall aspects of their facial attractiveness, dentists were not assessing the condition of all those teeth nearly as favorably.

In addition to that smile, patients surveyed and observed in the study ranked various facial features to overall attractiveness in addition to those teeth, including hair and hairline, eyes and eyebrows, nose, skin, ears, lips, teeth, chin and the shape of the head. What did those surveyed dislike about their teeth? The color, with a majority rating that their teeth were "too dark."

Source

Part of a normal, healthy daily hygiene regimen is tooth care and flossing. Be sure and brush those teeth and massage those gums, or else you could be prone to dementia later in life, according to new research.

In an odd correlation, the dental records and cognitive tests from a group of 144 study participants were studied and the end result was that those with few teeth (zero to nine) had an increased risk of developing dementia during the course of the study (a 12-year period).

The researchers did state that the conclusion they came up with could not be identified as casual or causal -- yet.

Source

Have you ever had bleeding gums before? Many of us know that bleeding gums are a sign of dental or periodontal disease -- and that should not be taken lightly just like any other tell-tale signs of ailments or disease anywhere on the body.

Although bleeding gums are often caused by a buildup of plaque along the gumline, the lack of proper dental care may cause plaque may harden to form tartar -- and that is difficult to remove without a dentist picking in your mouth with a sharp, pointed metal rod. That does not bring up pleasant thoughts at all. For me, anyway.

Source