I was excited to have gotten the chance to participate in the Colgate Building Smiles Tour. Unfortunately the bus did not make it to our local Walmart but that didn’t dampen our spirits. Despite not getting a chance to visit the bus we still spent our day at Walmart doing our local grocery shopping and picking up our Colgate toothpaste.
So what is “Building Smiles” you might ask?
Building Smiles Together Mission
In an effort to help combat rising cavity rates and build healthy smiles, Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® is working with Walmart to create “Building Smiles Together™” — a new initiative dedicated to providing free dental screenings and oral health education to children in need.
Traveling around the country throughout the year, a fleet of Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® mobile dental vans will be on-site at participating Walmart stores. Staffed by volunteer dental professionals, children (ages 1- 12) will receive free screenings, treatment referrals and key learning tools to help them build a lifetime of healthy habits.
By combining the free screenings and education with Walmart’s everyday low prices and broad assortment of oral care products, this initiative will provide families the much-needed access to the education and everyday oral care necessities they need to live better, healthier lives.
You would be surprised at how many children have not been to the dentist because it is either thought to not be important or it is a cost that is too much for families with low incomes. I love the fact that Colgate is doing what they can to help educate not just the parents but children as to how important dental care is.
I’m speaking from experience of course. After three years of spending the time and money on both my youngest son and myself and fixing problems with our teeth trust me it is easier to get it right the first time. Unfortunately some oral problems are hereditary and my youngest son takes after my side of the family. His newest need was braces, but look at this smile and tell me you wouldn’t do all that you could to preserve it?
The family is now on a great schedule. I myself visit the dentist every 4 months, I tend to get a lot of plaque build up and this helps keep it under control. All three of my kids visit the dentist every 6 months for normal oral care. Since Nick has braces he currently visits monthly to get his wires tightened. He is just about ready to get his bottom braces on.
With Nick’s braces his oral routine is much more intensive then the rest. The dentist has actually asked him to brush 5 times a day. I’m not home all day long and I can almost guarantee this is not happening. However each night I spend time with him to make sure he does well and all that he was instructed. He first massages his gums to help keep them healthy. He then brushes his teeth. He is able to floss the bottom himself with the floss picks but has a hard time with the top where the braces are so I do that for him. He also has a waterpik that he uses daily to keep not only the braces clean but up around the gums as well.
Buddy has excellent teeth and got that from his father. He has yet to get a cavity and I hope it stays that way. He is good about brushes his teeth each morning but the dentist did remind him he needs to improve on his flossing. He seems to be taking that to heart and I see him flossing at night.
My daughter’s teeth are still far enough apart that she does not need to floss however she has her own routine. She loves that blue stuff you swish in your mouth to see where you need to concentrate so she starts with that. She brushes, and they she follows up with pink fluoride. However because she is not really a good swish without swallowing she sticks her toothbrush into the fluoride and brushes her teeth with it, then rinses.
I’m hoping that by staying on top of my children when they are young they will continue to do a good job as an adult. I didn’t go to the dentist for a good 5 years not thinking about its importance and paid for it in the form of fillings, root canals and one pulled tooth. So I try my best to instill in them the importance of good oral hygiene.
I mentioned we didn’t get a chance to visit the van but we documented our trip to Walmart in which we purchased our Colgate products to help keep the Shibley Smiles bright! Please stop by and leave a comment!
If you are interested in seeing if the Colgate van will be visiting your area you can check out the Colgate Building Smiles Van Schedule. Or if you are looking for more information about the program or want to find some fun activities to help teach your children about good oral health care please visit Colgate Building Smiles Together
Disclaimer: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. Opinions are my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. You may read more of my disclosure here.
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