Speaking of toothbrushing routines...
Looking for a toothbrush? We love Recycline's recycled and fully recyclable Preserve toothbrushes, including the Jr. model shown above. A six-pack sells for about $14, or you can buy individual ones for $2 and change. We discuss more details of their eco-friendliness here; since our review we've seen Whole Foods start carrying them, and other natural food stores probably do, too.
Looking for some good toddler toothpaste? At four years of age Z is still using the Spry Tooth Gel we rubbed on her first tooth, and any child who can't be relied on to spit toothpaste into the sink should not yet be using the stuff in a tube, even the kinds marketed to kids. Spry's liquid formulation is sweetened with xylitol, and doesn't contain the sodium lauryl sulfate, artificial colors, or glycerin (a no-no for vegetarians like us) major kids' toothpaste brands do. And Z hasn't had a cavity yet, which always seems to surprise her dentist!
Kids nervous at the dentist? Try a little role-playing, or read the comments on this post for tips from our readers.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
More Toothbrushing Recommendations
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10 comments:
I read somewhere that Target carries the Preserve toothbrushes, but I haven't been able to check yet.
Also, a comment on kids toothpastes. My 3-year old still uses the non-fluoride kind since he can't spit yet. But we briefly looked at the fluoride kids toothpastes and you know, they have the exact same % of the active ingredients as adult toothpastes? The only difference between kids and adult fluoride toothpastes is the flavor. When we do start my child on fluoride toothpaste, we are going to bypass all those kids characters and start him with plain old adult toothpaste.
Good call. And if you want to avoid the extra fluoridation (not a topic to get into here!) skipping the kids' stuff is mandatory, as only adult toothpastes offer non-fluoridated alternatives (Tom's of Maine, Vico, etc.)
I did a little homework, and you may want to revise your statement about sorbitol. Sorbitol is 'a sugar' , not 'sugar'. It is a natural sugar found in some berries and stone fruits. It is also used to prevent dental caries, it's just not as good as xylitol.
http://www.theannals.com/cgi/content/
abstract/34/1/98
here's another good site, comparing the different polyols:
http://www.polyol.org/fap/fap_xylitol.html
Did you know that xylitol is made from trees? Weird!
-chris
Thanks for the info, I am going to try the tooth paste!
@Anonymous: Thanks for the tip. I've removed the statement!
We use JASON Toddler Toothpaste (they carry it at Whole Foods) which has no fluoride or SLS; it does have "vegetable glycerin," though. Sweetened with xylitol.
My son uses plain old baking soda and sea salt (2 to 1 ratio) that I spinkler on his brush from a small tumbler. He loves it and wants to brush more. oramedia.com is a great dental self-sufficiency site that gives yous dentrifice recipies you can easily make at home.
trader joe's also sells the preserve toothbrushes. i think i bought one from them last year.
Just to note... Tom's of Maine does carry a Kids toothpaste. It's strawberry flavor and they have floride and non-floride. Our kids love it and it doesn't have the junk in it that the othes tend to. Only place I've found the non-floride is Whole Foods. They have both. Trader Jos's has only the floride.
They didn't have the toothgel at Whole Foods, just the chewing gum. I was a bit surprised by that. Is it available at Target or other stores? Perhaps as simple as Walgreens or other chain pharmacies?
Pam
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