Brighten up the tooth-brushing experience

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As any parent knows, getting kids excited about anything that isn't the latest toy or gadget is a hard sell. When it comes to getting kids excited about personal grooming habits, parents know the task is even taller than usual.

Perhaps no grooming habit has proven more of a challenge over the years than proper dental care. As hard as parents may try, kids seem to have an innate aversion to brushing their teeth. Recognizing that, Dr. Fresh®, Inc., the renowned manufacturer of popular and affordable oral care products, offers parents the following tips to get kids excited about taking care of their teeth.

* Make brushing fun: Even parents can admit that brushing your teeth isn't the most fun thing a person does every day. However, that doesn't mean this morning and nightly ritual can't be spiced up with a little creativity. Thanks to his own daughter's stubbornness when it came to brushing her teeth, Dr. Fresh was inspired to add some dazzle to dental care. By taking the LCD light out of a pair of fancy sneakers and placing it in the bottom of a regular toothbrush, Dr. Fresh did just that. After some more thorough research and development, the Firefly® was born. Employing the same blinking technology used in a pair of sneakers, the Firefly blinks for 60 seconds, instilling the dentist-recommended one-minute per arch brushing routine, but doing it in a way that's fun for kids.

* Take the hurt out of brushing: One of the foremost reasons many kids don't like brushing or even trips to the dentist is the pain principle. Kids, and even adults, often associate dental care or dental visits with pain. That's why Dr. Fresh recommends parents go gentle on young gums. A brush such as the Firefly, with its soft and individually rounded bristles, is the perfect way to comfortable dental care. In fact, dentists have even recommended the Firefly to adults who have experienced difficulty with the harder bristle brushes made for men and women.

* Start early: Good dental care habits start at a young age. Unfortunately, so do bad ones, emphasizing the importance of reinforcing proper dental habits in children as early as possible. Studies have shown that childhood tooth decay is reaching an epidemic level in the United States, and it's been well documented that cavities in baby teeth set the stage for cavities in adult teeth.

Dental professionals recommend replacing a toothbrush once every three months. In fact, the lights on the Firefly toothbrush stop functioning after the optimal number of uses, reminding kids and parents alike that it's time for a new toothbrush. By giving kids a new, bright and blinking toothbrush when the light stops blinking, you can renew kids' interest in brushing their teeth simply by following your dentist's guidelines.

For more information on the Firefly toothbrush, visit www.drfresh.com.