There are bright pink stains on the bathmat and the pyjamas, not to mention a distinctly fuchsia tinge to chapped winter lips, but three boys brushed their teeth very thoroughly again last night. Disclosing tablets are my new weapon in the ongoing battle to stop my children’s teeth from falling out – the deep-pink residue left after swilling one around in the mouth is proof-positive of plaque. We have tried novelty toothbrushes, rewards and admonishments, but the only thing that the six-year-old is listening to is a rather horrifying tale dreamt up by the paediatric dentist Alex Rushworth that his teeth are covered with Sugarbug poo, shown up by the pink stain of the tablets.
‘I wanted to find a way to make children understand the link between not brushing their teeth and tooth decay,’ she says. ‘Every Monday I run a clinic where children have teeth removed under general anaesthetic – I routinely take between 10 and 20 teeth out of a three- or four-year-old – and it is not pleasant. The process of acid erosion is quite slow and it can be hard for them to grasp, but none of them wants poo on their teeth.’ Of course her story, developed and embellished over 13 years as a paediatric dentist, and now in print and illustrated by her sister-in-law Helen Rushworth (Open Wide, What’s Inside? £2.50, ibexillustrations.co.uk) is based on science. The bacteria Streptococcus mutans (the Sugarbugs) metabolise the sugars and starches left on our teeth and produce acid (poo), which causes tooth decay. With a bowl of Coco Pops containing as much sugar as a jam doughnut, and roughly a third of all five- to 14-year-olds suffering from tooth decay, Rushworth thinks it is time to get tough. ‘When children come to me the damage is already done and it is heartbreaking. Milk teeth are tiny, so a small amount of decay will cause a relatively big hole. Children need to process this, and parents need to lay down the rules and address what and how they are feeding them.’
The rules are simple: sweets and treats should be tacked on to the end of a meal, not eaten throughout the day, so the mouth has time to neutralise the acid. ‘Chocolate is better for the teeth as it flushes through the mouth quicker. Lollipops and chewy sweets are the worst culprits and fizzy drinks deliver a double whammy of decay as they are loaded with sugar, and contain acid to make the bubbles.’ If and when they do neck a Coca-Cola and a bag of Haribos, brush 20 minutes later, giving the enzymes in the mouth a chance to start breaking down the sugars. Parents should also brush a child’s teeth until the child can tie their own shoelaces. ‘It takes concentration and dexterity to reach the adult molars, which start to come through when a child is about six,’ she says. ‘Don’t get too hung up about brushing toddlers’ teeth for the full two minutes – they have half as many teeth as adults, so just make sure that the routine is instilled in them.’
She recommends using a small, round-headed electric toothbrush as children like the novelty (try the Oral B Stages toothbrush £34.99, oralb.com/uk). ‘And remember toothpaste is not like Persil – it is the action of brushing that removes the plaque, not the toothpaste itself, whose main purpose is to deliver fluoride.’ Right, time to go and tackle those pink poo stains again…
Two minutes is a long time. This wooden tooth mug holder has a built-in two-minute timer that changes the clown’s smile from gummy to toothy. The brush is soft-bristled, but the head is a little too large for the back teeth. Toothbrush Timer £12 (gltc.co.uk). Ceplac Disclosing Tablets (£2 for 12, from chemists) taste like a visit to the dentist and add an extra dimension of potential domestic disaster to the bathroom routine. Best used naked, ideally while standing in the shower.
There are various apps available to encourage the two-minute brush, though quite how happy you are to have your iPhone balanced against the basin is up to you. Popular in this house was the T-Rex Toothbrush Timer £0.69, which has a cartoon of the inside of a dinosaur’s mouth being worked over with a toothbrush, with an apparently hilarious brushing noise. The older children like Brush DJ, a free app that will play you two minutes of music from your iTunes library, and buzz every 30 seconds to remind you to switch sides. Ecstatic applause awaits you when your brushing time is up.