• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Learn how to prevent & reverse tooth decay, gum disease, and more.
  • Shop

    Natural Products

    • Most Popular
    • All Products
    • Subscriptions

    Shop By Concern

    • Tooth Decay
    • Gum Disease
    • Bleeding Gums
    • Natural Teeth Whitening
    • Bad Breath
  • Learn

    Get Help With...

    • Tooth Decay
    • Gum Disease
    • Bad Breath
    • Tooth Abscess
    • Canker Sores
    • Receding Gums
    • Periodontal Disease

    Free Resources

    • Blog
    • Video Tutorials
    • eBooks
    • Free Downloads
    • Expert Interviews
    • Meridian Tooth Chart
OraWellness.com
  • Blog
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Testimonials
    • FAQ
    • Contact
  • Account
    • Customer Login
    • Wholesale Login
  • 0
OraWellness.com 0
  • Blog
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Testimonials
    • FAQ
    • Contact
  • Account
    • Customer Login
    • Wholesale Login
  • Shop
    • Most Popular
    • All Products
    • Shop by Concern
      • Tooth Decay
      • Gum Disease
      • Bleeding Gums
      • Natural Teeth Whitening
      • Bad Breath
  • Learn
    • Get Help With...
      • Tooth Decay
      • Gum Disease
      • Bad Breath
      • Tooth Abscess
      • Canker Sores
      • Receding Gums
      • Periodontal Disease
    • Free Resources
      • Blog
      • Video Tutorials
      • eBooks
      • Free Downloads
      • Expert Interviews
      • Meridian Tooth Chart

How to create greater oral health for the whole family

Thanks to Buck and Taylor of A Healthy Heritage for this image
of their adorable kids!


As we mention in our article, “How to create a healthy brushing routine with your toddler or young child“, as parents, the oral hygiene routine that we model sets the example for our child’s oral hygiene.

When it comes to raising our oral health awareness as a family, we should note that oral health is not achieved or maintained by the simple acts of brushing and flossing alone.

98% of every man, woman, and child in the United States has some form of oral disease. And among those folks, 90% of adults and 65% of 15-year-olds specifically have signs of active gum disease.

So if brushing and flossing alone created oral health and most people did at least one of these things habitually, wouldn’t these numbers be much, much lower?

As parents, we always want the best for our children. For example, many of us were raised on Twinkies and Lucky Charms (actually, I preferred Ding Dongs and Trix 🙂 –just name your poison). However, now that we’re parents, we want to provide our kids with the very best start, especially if we feel we may not have had the greatest nutritional start ourselves.

(Incidentally, feel free to check out our articles, “How to Help Your Child Avoid Gum Disease” and “4 Steps to Help Your Kids Live a Cavity Free Life“).

Circling back to our oral hygiene routine, it’s important to remember that children learn a lot by watching how we go about our lives. Therefore, the very best thing we can do to improve the oral health for everyone in our family is to take control of our own oral health.


The key is… modeling

By modeling how to care for our own oral health, we lead by example, which we all know is the very best way for our children to learn from us.

If we had to choose the most important aspect of a healthy oral care routine, it would be daily conscious flossing.


What is conscious flossing?

We’ve coined the term “conscious flossing” to describe bringing our awareness and attention to the routine habit of flossing.

By paying attention while flossing, we can learn a lot about what’s going on in our mouths, and this information can have a huge impact on our ability to create greater oral health.


How to floss consciously

1. Start with a piece of floss that’s long enough for you to be able to use a new segment of floss between each set of teeth.

2. Stop and look at the floss after each flossing point. Look for any discoloration on the floss. Any color (blood or yellowish color) is a clear sign that you have an active infection in the gum pockets around those teeth.

3. Step three requires some courage, so be strong! 🙂 Smell the floss. Yep, smell it after each contact you clean. A bad smell on the floss is also a sign of an active infection in the gum pockets around those teeth. And yes, if you find any smelly floss, that directly contributes to the smell from your mouth that your partner has come to recognize as normal.

4. As you floss, feel for any pain, sensitivity or signs of swelling.


What if I found signs of infection while flossing consciously?

If you found any signs of infection, know that it does not have to be this way!

Feel free to check out our HealThy Teeth & Gums Starter Kit, which contains some helpful tools for supporting you along your path.

The HealThy Mouth Blend included in the kit can be particularly helpful if you add a drop to your finger and then run your floss through it. This coats the string so that as you’re flossing, the blend gets down a little deeper below the gum line.

Here’s an article that explains the role of each ingredient in our HealThy Mouth Blend, and here’s a video that explains some ways to use the HealThy Mouth Blend.

When we begin taking daily action to consistently disorganize any ‘thug bugs’ that are hiding below the gum line, strange colors and smells on the floss will diminish over time.

If you’ve already been diagnosed with deep gum pockets or periodontal disease, then we invite you to check out our HealThy Mouth System, which contains all of the tools you need to reach the thug bugs that are hiding out and creating problems at the base of the gum pockets.

If you really want to take your oral health to the next level, fill out the OraWellness Mouth Map with your conscious flossing results and keep it as a record. Keeping a dated record helps you track whether your oral health is improving over time or if you are losing the battle to the thug bugs that cause gum disease.


Wrapping up…

Once your kids see Mom and/or Dad floss consciously, they will begin to do the same.

Then everyone in the family will have a better understanding of how to create greater oral health in their own life. That’s what we call a win/win for all!!!

Here are some additional flossing resources to help you along your path:

  • 4 Reasons Why Flosser Picks Are NOT a Healthy Option [article]
  • What’s the Best Floss on the Market and Why? [floss analysis article]
  • WHY is flossing such a critically important oral hygiene habit? [video tutorial]
  • How to floss and NOT damage your gums [video tutorial]
  • How to avoid the 4 most common flossing mistakes [article]

Also, if you’re ready to kick your oral health up a notch and gain a complete understanding of how to stop tooth decay and reverse cavities, feel free to download our FREE eBook, “How to Remineralize Your Teeth”.

What about you? Have you tried conscious flossing? If so, have you found it helpful? What tips have you found helpful for helping your family walk the path to greater oral health? Please share your experiences in the comments below so we can all learn from each other.

Aloha!


Helpful, Related Resources:

How to create a healthy brushing routine with your toddler or young child [article]
How to Help Your Child Avoid Gum Disease [article]
4 Steps to Help Your Kids Live a Cavity Free Life [article]
HealThy Teeth & Gums Starter Kit [product solution]
HealThy Mouth Blend [product solution]
What’s in the HealThy Mouth Blend? (And why is it so effective?) [article]
How to Maximize Your Benefit Using the HealThy Mouth Blend [video tutorial]
HealThy Mouth System [product solution]
OraWellness Mouth Map [FREE download]
4 Reasons Why Flosser Picks Are NOT a Healthy Option [article]
What’s the Best Floss on the Market and Why? [floss analysis article]
WHY is flossing such a critically important oral hygiene habit? [video tutorial]
How to floss and NOT damage your gums [video tutorial]
How to avoid the 4 most common flossing mistakes [article]
How to Stop Tooth Decay and Remineralize Your Teeth [FREE eBook]

Categories

Bad Breath, Children's Oral Care, Flossing, Gum Disease, Oral Hygiene

Tags

01, children's oral care, conscious flossing, oral hygiene

Will And Susan

Will and Susan are the founders of OraWellness and are passionate about health, wellness and positive living.

"We are experienced dental health crusaders and holistic oral health product innovators who know first hand the power of nature to heal in miraculous ways."

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments

  1. 4waystoyummy says

    February 16, 2020

    Clearly our diet is key to better health. Children are exceptionally vulnerable to “less than desirable” eating habits. Introducing children to new and varied healthy food is easier when they are included in the whole process. Let them help you shop, wash and prepare real food. Cooking is a wonderful life skill to pass to your children and studies show it will serve them their entire life. It’s also a time-saver for parents to have them help. It also does not have to be complicated and it is Fun.

    Reply
  2. Mike Dy says

    February 19, 2017

    Nice post! But do you think that over flossing your teeth can create gap in between?

    Reply
  3. Nieves says

    March 22, 2015

    Is there any recomendated age to the children start flossing?

    It’s complicated to help them with ours big fingers in their little mouth…

    Reply
    • Will says

      May 7, 2015

      Aloha Nieves! 🙂

      For kids, we really strongly encourage the use of an oral irrigator over floss. Bottom line, floss takes quite a bit of manual dexterity to do it well and kids just don’t have the dexterity at first. However, using an oral irrigator (like waterpik here in the US) is a great tool that if a child develops the habit of, will keep that child from ever developing gum disease.

      Thanks for stopping by to ask!

      Reply
  4. chronic sinusitis treatment says

    October 17, 2013

    Its not my first time to pay a visit this web site, i am
    browsing this web site dailly and get pleasant information from here all the time.

    Reply
  5. Geri says

    September 2, 2013

    When flossing are we to bring the floss down into the gum around the tooth or only the exposed part? I have read where this irritates the gum. I also have read where this stimulates and is healthy. Help for you expert reply.

    Reply
    • will says

      October 4, 2013

      Thanks for posting Geri! Sit tight as we are planning a series on flossing! 🙂

      Aloha!

      Reply
  6. suzanne says

    September 1, 2013

    You mention using charcoal to get rid of stains. I have sealant along my gumlines (done yrs. ago per dentist recommendation for sensitivity there). They stain easily because of it. Will the charcoal remove the sealant or just the stain. I also want to say thank you for this site and your service. Appreciate your knowledge and the love that comes through.

    Reply
    • will says

      October 4, 2013

      Not sure about this. Charcoal shouldn’t remove the actual sealants unless they are kind of ‘going’ anyway. It’s mostly a factor of how much awareness we bring to the action of brushing. Maybe try it and see how it goes?

      Reply
  7. Brian Brown says

    July 20, 2013

    Interesting read. Kids do learn so much from us that starting them off with good habits as far as dental care can only help them as they grow. Nice post.

    Reply
  8. Mark says

    March 31, 2013

    Aloha Will,

    Love your product but there is one thing it doesn’t do and that is whiten. What is your suggestion?

    Mark

    Reply
    • will says

      May 12, 2013

      Aloha Mark!

      I’m sorry to be so late getting back to you here with your question. We have a couple ideas regarding teeth whitening. First, try oil pulling. It’s an awesome detox technique from ancient Ayurvedic medicine. We have an article about it in our blog.

      Second, you may want to try brushing with a bit of activated charcoal. While it seems like of counter intuitive to brush with a black powder, the activated charcoal does a great job in removing any staining.

      I hope this helps!

      Aloha,
      Will

      Reply
  9. Sue says

    March 31, 2013

    It would be beneficial (and save us searching time) to have a step #5 that either briefly explains how to deal with an infection or links to one of your blog posts (and products) that does.

    Otherwise… it was a very valuable post!

    Reply
  10. Kimberly says

    March 31, 2013

    Thanks for the informative article! It reaffirms what I recently learned from my new mercury free dentist….and goes a little further into explanation than he did. I will definitely share this information with my kids 🙂

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Want to amaze your dentist?

My family has been using OraWellness for a few years now. We are very thankful and have gotten questioned by two separate dental offices about what we use for our own teeth and our children because they are so clean and healthy – I always love to share the news of OraWellness!

~ Danielle E from AZ

Learn More

I am 34 years old with a 3 year old son.  After my son was born, I began developing some major dental issues. Tired of being in constant pain and living on ibuprofen, I decided to give your product a try.

And wow! Was I amazed! Not only did it almost immediately stop my pain, but my teeth and gums felt amazing! I will never go back to using anything else! And my son, who will be 4 in January, has not had a single cavity thanks to OraWellness (his pediatric dentist has been amazed by how healthy his teeth are!)

I am truly grateful for your products and for what your company stands for! Thank you so much OraWellness for changing my life!

XOXO — Katie & Lincoln 🙂

Katie and Lincoln from California

The dentist has confirmed that the decay on our son’s front teeth has stopped!

Thank you for making such a wonderful product!

Sayuri G from Hawaii

I wanted to let you know I just had my first dentist appointment where I had no new cavities! Thanks to you guys!

Dr. Robin S from Seattle, Washington

I have been using the Healthy Mouth Blend for over a year and I am very pleased with the results of this product. The worst pain that anyone can have is a toothache that could have been prevented.

Before I began to use this product, I was in the dental office on a regular basis beyond my semi-annual checkups. Now, that has changed. I have not gone to the dental once for any dental issues and I attribute it to this product.

Greg B from New Jersey

Your product is the bomb. I’ve let two family members use this for tooth aches and it stopped it immediately.

Winston L from

I sometimes get a toothache and by using your ora wellness healthy mouth blend the toothache goes away.

Also my daughter had a cracked tooth after having her wisdom teeth pulled out and she has lived with the pain for a long time. I gave her a bottle of the healthy mouth blend and it made the pain go away. She now has had the tooth taken care of.

Thank you for a good product.

Sandy M from WI

Categories

  • Bad Breath
  • Braces
  • Brushing
  • Canker Sores
  • Children's Oral Care
  • Diet/Nutrition
  • Flossing
  • Gum Disease
  • Microbiome
  • Mouth/Body Connection
  • Oral Hygiene
  • Quick Links
  • Remineralization
  • Root Canals
  • Tooth Decay
  • Toxin Free Oral Care
  • Uncategorized
  • Whiter Teeth Naturally
  • Wisdom Teeth

Footer

About

  • Our Story
  • FAQ
  • Returns / Refunds
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy

Shop

  • All Products
  • Store Locator
  • Customer Login
  • Wholesale Login

Connect

Email Us
(808) 892-3274

  • Wholesale Program
  • Affiliate Program
  • Join Our Team
© 2023 OraWellness. All rights reserved.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.