Join your kids in the fight of plaque

Experto Loving Advise from Dr. GranPa Ken

This is one change in the way that I have practiced dentistry that pays real dividends for your family!


For many years I felt it was asking too much of parents, especially moms, who work full-time, raise their children, cook the meals, wash clothes, clean the house, and on top of everything else floss their teeth… NO WAY!

Part of this reluctance on my part to ask parents to floss their children’s teeth, is when I found out that over half of the parents did not floss their own teeth. So like it or not, the facts are in ….you cannot remove ALL of the PLAQUE without floss. A dental tooth brush is not designed to do this job.

Believe me, there are many types of floss out there that you can use to properly clean your child’s teeth. As Nike says “Just do it!” Use some common sense about flossing. In my opinion, if the space between the teeth has not closed you can probably do an adequate job of cleaning with a tooth brush. For most children they will have spaces until they are 3 to 4 years old. There are many helpful “Gadgets” that you can get from your dental office or the drug store to make it an easier task.

Make sure you DO NOT “SNAP” the floss through the teeth as this can hurt the gum tissue and be somewhat painful to your child.

The good news is that flossing is only necessary once a day! Why? As you learned previously, we are trying to disturb or disorganize the plaque once every 24 hours. You can floss more than once a day if you want to, but you have done the job if you floss once a day.

Again, we are talking children here. Many adults that have not taken care of their teeth and have gum disease may need to floss after each meal.

See the chart below for instructions on how to properly floss

Imagine your child cavity free for a lifetime-guaranteed !

The Youth Tooth Guide is an easy to read and understand guide book for parents and children which cover every issue relating to dental health, tooth development, hygiene and prevention and more.

Click here for more information on the Youth Tooth Guide.

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