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Totally OT - Flossing

Started by Ali, June 04, 2012, 09:48:31 PM

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Ali

This doesn't really have anything to do with atheism or parenting beyond belief, but since we have several parents of young children (or used-to-be-young children) I thought I'd throw this out there.

Do you/did you floss your young children's teeth?  T just had a 6 month cleaning last Friday, and they mentioned that it is probably time to start flossing his teeth because they are getting closer together, at least in the back (still fairly well spaced in the front.)  So okay, I have no problem with this in theory.  I floss my own teeth every night, so why shouldn't T's teeth get flossed too?  Makes sense.  It's just the execution that is driving me crazy.  I can't figure out an angle (including having him laying on his back with his head in my lap) that allows a good angle to get my chunky adult fingers into his mouth and at a good angle to get in between those last two molars.

So, help?  Do the rest of you floss your kids' teeth?  I'm pretty sure, for the record, that no one ever flossed my teeth until I was old enough to floss them myself.

McQ

Ali, yes, we did floss our kids' teeth for about one week each, which was enough time to:

1. teach them to do it themselves.
2. realize there was no way in hell we were going to keep doing it.

Two things helped. First were floss sticks, so they could understand how it was supposed to feel and to do more easily while their gums got accustomed to the floss and stopped bleeding every time. And second was tag team flossing. We took turns.

Best angle we found was to stand behind the boys in front of the bathroom mirror and make like we were flossing our own teeth, with fingers in their mouths, of course.

We wasted a ton of floss at first, but then they got the hang of it. One of our boys still uses like three yards of floss every time, but he buys his own now, so that his problem!

How old is T now?
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

DeterminedJuliet

We brush our guy's teeth, but no floss (yet).

What about those little plastic flossy wandy thingies? Do you think they'd be easier to use?



Edit: McQ beat me to it. He has good ideas.  ;D
"We've thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.

Ali

#3
He's almost 4.

Good suggestion about the flossy wandy thingies.  I just asked another mom of older kids that I work with, and she said those are a lot easier to use in their little mouths.

ETA:  I will also try the angle of standing behind him like I'm flossing my own teeth.  That's a good idea too.  I have so far tried facing him (nearly impossible) and the laying down head in the lap (works fine for the front teeth, but the front teeth really aren't the issue since they still don't touch - still nearly impossible for the back teeth.)

McQ

Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on June 04, 2012, 10:15:54 PM
We brush our guy's teeth, but no floss (yet).

What about those little plastic flossy wandy thingies? Do you think they'd be easier to use?



Edit: McQ beat me to it. He has good ideas.  ;D

Bwahahaha!

My brother in law is our dentist. Wish I could claim the brilliant idea, but it was all him!
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

hismikeness

Mitch Hedberg on flossing.

"You seem jittery."

"Yeah, I'm about to floss."

;D
No churches have free wifi because they don't want to compete with an invisible force that works.

When the alien invasion does indeed happen, if everyone would just go out into the streets & inexpertly play the flute, they'll just go. -@UncleDynamite

Ali


OldGit

We didn't make ours floss, but in the seventies I don't think people did.

Ali

Quote from: OldGit on June 05, 2012, 10:19:02 AM
We didn't make ours floss, but in the seventies I don't think people did.

Nor the 80's, I don't think.  I don't remember my parents ever flossing me or getting on me to floss when I was a kid.  I don't even remember my dentist asking about it until I was a teen (the 90's).

AnimatedDirt

Quote from: Ali on June 05, 2012, 02:21:45 PM
Quote from: OldGit on June 05, 2012, 10:19:02 AM
We didn't make ours floss, but in the seventies I don't think people did.

Nor the 80's, I don't think.  I don't remember my parents ever flossing me or getting on me to floss when I was a kid.  I don't even remember my dentist asking about it until I was a teen (the 90's).

Interesting.  I was in that era including the late 70's as a youngin.  I remember our dentist always mentioning flossing.  My mother religiously flossed her teeth and taught us to do the same, although I don't "religiously" floss, I do floss daily as I have pockets that tend to trap food and if I don't get it out immediately, I keep picking at it with my tongue as I can feel the food trapped...yuk.

For our kids, we just handed them some floss and had them copy us as we flossed.  Initially we did stick our fingers in their mouths to floss once or twice, but after that we just got them to emulate our actions.  Seems to have worked well.

Ali

Maybe I just had a bad dentist, or am not remembering properly.  :D

I must be a weirdo, because I don't understand why a lot of people don't floss daily.  I love to floss my teeth.  I don't know why, exactly. 

AnimatedDirt

One thing I cannot overcome yet is the need to use a medium or heavy tooth brush.  Even though I've worn a couple of grooves in two of my teeth, I cannot get over the feeling that using the soft tooth brush is just not doing anything.

My sister and daughter are both dental hygienists and both continually beg me ( and everyone else ) to stop with those harder brushes...I just can't.  I must have a good 20 or so new soft tooth brushes in my bathroom drawer.  No guest to my home leaves without a new tooth brush.  Likewise, all my regular friends and those of my kids all have their own tooth brush in our bathroom...lots of toothbrush cases in the drawers.  :)