The Trajectory of Kids Not Taking Care of Their Teeth

This isn’t supposed to scare anyone (yes it is). This is more for the nostalgic and regretful feelings adults have when thinking about all the times they skipped brushing their teeth.

It starts out as a baby and we don’t have any teeth. Those were simpler times. After a few months or years or however long it takes, a first tooth comes and then everything changes. Most likely, our parents provided general dental care for us when we were infants: bruising our tooth, keeping us away from hard candy, not dropping us on our faces, etc. For the most part, however, our baby teeth were just a practice run because they all came out anyways and — depending on the budget of that particular home’s tooth fairy — we made a fortune.

Then we morph into teenagers. With hormones and homework and video games galore, there is no possible time to set aside for brushing teeth. We needed to beat this level of this game, we needed to prove to the girl in gym class that we understood the rules of Rat Ball better than anyone else, and we needed to have an attractive, dirty smile that proves we didn’t brush our teeth because that was cool… or so we thought. At this time in our life, our parents probably were chasing us around the house with toothpaste and forcing us to brush with no avail. We would spend hours in bathrooms only pretending to brush our teeth to spite our parents and we would ignore their regular warnings of the dangers that will come from not brushing. We were young, we ruled the world, and we were stupid.

We finally reached adolescence! We are transitioning into adulthood and can drive a car! Now we are worried about having a serious relationship, graduating college, and getting a good job. The smart ones might even brush upwards of one to two times a day! We think everything is golden and we are in the clear until we remember we just spent the last 20 years not brushing our teeth and stuffing our mouths with candy and soda.

And now, adulthood. Congratulations — we’ve made it. We have families, nicer cars, good jobs, and more money than we’ve ever had before. We know the importance of brushing or teeth so we are chasing our kids around the house with a tube of toothpaste. The only problem, however, is that all our teeth are destroyed and all our money is going to dental care. We probably should have brushed more…

It’s extremely important to teach kids at a young age that brushing should not only be done then but it should be done then, the next day, the next year, and everyday for the rest of your life. The stress that teeth problems can bring is not worth any day of “getting away with” brushing in the past.

Don’t wait — if you or your family need a dentist or cosmetic dentistry work, get help from the professionals. Teach proper dental care at a young age and hopefully they will grow up to have a healthy mouth and a bright smile.