Parenting Advice from Someone Who Never Had Kids

     I just read that today's pre-schoolers have rotten teeth.  Tooth decay is on the rise among children ages two to five.  These kids already have six to ten cavities.  Dentists are knocking out kids as young as age two in order to repair the massive amounts of damage in their baby teeth.  This is occurring at all income levels.  Two culprits being blamed for this are the ever present juice box and too much snacking.  When kids have a few swallows of mouth cleansing water, that water is likely to come from a bottle.  Bottled water lacks  fluoride, a cavity preventive, that has been added to the public water supply.  But the biggest reason for the dental caries epidemic is that parents are lax about making kids brush.

     I started thinking about what might encourage kids to brush their teeth.  I shouted in the direction of the man cave, "Hey, Mike.  Do they still advertise toothpaste on television?"

     "I can't remember seeing a toothpaste commercial in ages," was his reply.

     Because Mike is at work all day, his TV viewing is mostly the sports channels, on demand, and the more mature subject matter televised from 9:00 p.m to 11:00 p.m.  I continued to wrack my brain.  I recalled seeing commercials for tooth whitening strips.  Oh yeah, they are also running an ad for Crest 3-D White.  Colgate is pushing a deep cleaning dentifrice that's suppose to keep plaque germs at bay for a full twelve hours.  How could I, with my sensitive teeth, have forgotten the Sensodyne commercials?  All of these sell jobs are aimed at grown ups.  There's not a "look-mom-no-cavities" in the bunch.  Maybe those just for kids networks are airing toothpaste commercials.  I searched YouTube and came up blank.  There were plenty of vintage ad's to promote kids' interest in brushing, but nothing after 1979.  I guess Madison Avenue has decided there's no profit in planting messages in kids brains for toothpaste.

     So in addition to everything other struggle, parents are going to have to be more diligent dental police.  Wait a minute.  A picture is developing here.  Mom and Dad, the Cavity Cop is going to have to patrol your bathroom.  Don your hat, pin on your badge, and pack a tube of bubblegum flavored toothpaste in your holster.  Deliver your tooth brushing sermon in your best Barney Fife.  Seriously.  This technique could make brushing fun when they're small, convince them that you really do have a screw loose when they are teenagers, and give them an example when they have to figure out how to make their own kids brush.