Orbit for Kids and How to Get Kids to Brush Properly

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Orbit for Kids. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

My kids, especially my daughter, love to chew gum. However, I have not traditionally let them chew gum too often because I am worried that the sugars will rot their teeth and sugar-free gums aren't always appealing in flavor. On top of that, my kids do not always do a good job brushing their teeth. So, I am even more apprehensive about letting them chew sugary gum.  I have tried many tricks over the years to get my kids to brush well and here are my experiences:

• Trusting they are brushing: It took me awhile to realize that sometime when they go in the bathroom to brush their teeth and I envision them brushing exactly as they are told, they are really playing around in the water while holding a toothbrush without any toothpaste in their mouth without actually brushing. Ok, the "trust" method did not really work.
• Doing the parent check: I tried asking my kids to come out after brushing so my husband or I could "check" to see if their teeth were clean and their breath was fresh. While this worked better than the "trust" method, I found that as time went on they spend less and less time brushing. What used to be the full 2-minutes of recommended brushing would turn into a 20 second brushing - followed by kids pouting back into the bathroom to finish brushing. I could totally do without the attitude so I needed to find a new method!
• Using musical toothbrushes/timers: Apparently 2 minutes feels a lot different to a child so I decided that they needed something to help them monitor the amount of time spent brushing. This method worked much better. They stayed in the bathroom the full 2 minutes. However, I realized that my daughter spent more time shaking her tushy to the Justin Beiber toothbrush than actually brushing.
• Brushing with children: We have a small bathroom, but I decided that the only way to make this work was to go to the bathroom with them and not only watch them, but also brush with them. This not only gives me the opportunity to monitor their brushing techniques, but it is also a great way to model proper oral hygiene  Finally, a method that works!!

Orbit has a line of gum just for kids that addresses this concern and also helps promote healthy oral hygiene   Thank goodness for Orbit for Kids! Although we have the tooth brushing routine down, my kids still need to have ways to maintain good oral health during the day.  It is available in Original Bubble Gum and Strawberry Banana and it has the ADA Seal of Approval. The benefits of chewing sugar free gum, such as Orbit for Kids, in between meals include cleaning the mouth of food debris and stimulating saliva flow which helps protect teeth by removing plaque and strengthening teeth. 

Not only are there benefits to having children chew Orbit for Kids, it is also extremely tasty and fun. I am personally a gum chewer because I find the taste leaves the gum very quickly and I cannot stand to chew flavorless gum. We received some Strawberry Banana samples and they were so delicious. Even I liked it! The taste was perfectly sweet and natural tasting. Plus, I thought the flavor lasted a nice amount of time so I was not so quick to spit it out.  My daughter not only loved chewing it, she also loved blowing bubbles. She hijacked my iPad and left me these adorable pictures last week:

Bella's "biggest" bubble yet!