Here’s me the other night as I sat nervously awaiting what terrible news my dentist had to tell me. I was having some jaw pain that wouldn’t quit, and a crumbled molar to go with it, so I knew it was time to see a dentist. Never quite being a fan of the dental chair,  I was hoping to hear that it could be easily fixed up and sent on my way home. Unfortunately for me, the news wasn’t quite what I wanted to hear.

Dentist: (Having never met me before and examining my X-rays) “You drink alot of soda…” He continued on to lecture me about oral hygiene and why I shouldn’t drink sugary drinks, even if I brush my teeth afterwards or drink through a straw. “It changes the PH in your mouth” he said simply.

Somehow, I felt like I 10 years old and in trouble at the principal’s office. I shifted nervously in the chair, and my eyes began to well up with hot tears because I knew some bad news was about to come my way. I knew I was guilty and my day had finally arrived – being a soda addict has finally caught up with me.

Let this be the example of why you should not drink soda, and let my mistakes not be yours. Remember I talked about being sick with an awful sinus infection? Well, here is the culprit – and I am mortified by it, which is also why I’m sharing it. If you are a heavy soda drinker (like me) let this be the example of what will happen to your teeth if you’re a 3-4 can a day drinker like me.

Yup. That’s my tooth. Horrified yet?

So I decided that I wasn’t going to have a tooth pulled from my mouth without having it be an example to share, especially for my JP. He is barely 4 years old, and it’s a real difficult to get him interested in brushing his teeth.

I’m sure you’ve met the routine, if you have a little one – bribing, pleading, timeout, yelling and then tears. rinse and repeat.

It’s definately a challenge, but I think I’ve figured out a way to get in his little head. When I returned home from the Dentist, the very next day I made it a point to show him what happened to me and explain to him why. The last thing I ever want is my baby to have to experience having a tooth pulled from his head!

He held it in his hand and ran his fingers over the jagged edge.

Me: “Do you know why I had my tooth pulled out”

JP: “Why, mama?”

Me: “Mommy ate too many sweets, and it broke my teeth. The dentist said it had to go, and it was why mommy has been so sick” (he’s pretty familiar with me being sick, since I’ve been blowing my nose for a month)

JP: “Oh”

Me: “We need to brush yours all the time, so the same thing doesn’t happen to you.”

JP: (to my utter shock) “Ok mommy, lets go brush”

Because of this new revelation, I decided to take him shopping for some new oral hygiene products. I looked at the amazing Firefly toothbrush, that lets the child know how long to brush a certain area by flashing green, yellow and red lights. Are you familiar with the breath freshener Binaca? This is made by the same company.

They even have this amazing fluoride foam toothpaste designed especially for kids – It’s even got JP’s favorite characters on it!

It even has a convenient suction cup base for easy, clean storage, I love that!

Getting him to brush was much, much easier! Maybe sometimes good things come out of bad experiences! His favorite thing is to rinse and spit, but I hate it because he makes a terrible mess of water/saliva and toothpaste spray all over the mirror – everytime.

…and of course, the mess! Thankfully, I can live with messes, they can cleaned… It’s teeth that can’t be replaced!

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric