Listerine Mouthwash 21-Day Challenge

Disclosure: “I received LISTERINE^® Brand products and a Walgreens gift card from Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the LISTERINE^® 21-Day Challenge. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.”

Do you brush once a day? Twice a day? More? Do you brush for 1 minute? 2 minutes? 3 minutes? Do you use mouth rinse every time you brush? Do you floss everyday? As you are reading these questions how does your mouth feel? Are you going to go brush your teeth right now? Go ahead…I will wait until you get back. But come back as soon as you are done brushing because this is important stuff.

No matter how many times a day your brush brushing still misses about 75% of your mouth. I was surprised to hear this. It also causes me some concern because (head hung down in shame as I admit this) while I always brush twice a day, I don’t floss regularly and I don’t use mouthwash regularly. I know some of you are thinking…gross! And you are right. But maybe some of you are just like me and are doing the bare minimum when it comes to taking care of your oral hygiene.  I have always used the excuse that I am just to busy to take the time to floss and have never really thought much about mouthwash. When I do use mouth wash I use it to freshen my breath not to clean my mouth and teeth. I do always get my teethed cleaned at the dentist office every 6 months, with a fluoride treatment every other visit. New habits are hard to create but I am determined to take better care of my teeth, gums, and mouth. Seriously, I floss my kids teeth, I think it is time I start flossing my own. I am going to take it one step further and start rinsing twice a day with Listerine mouthwash. Clearly brushing is not enough. You NEED mouthwash to get the places brushing has missed.

Here is my smile today. I will share a picture of my smile after completing the 21 day challenge!

To help myself get and stay motivated I have signed up for the Listerine 21-Day Challenge. Join me and  sign up at the 21-Day Challenge Website. You will be making a commitment to rinse with Listerine mouthwash morning and night for 21 days. When signing up you can also choose one of three experts who will begin sending you daily personalized emails with helpful tips and encouragement. There is an expert on fitness, home organization, or nutrition. I choose the fitness expert since I am also training to do a 10K run. Healthy habits are hard to form so I definitely need the motivation and help that comes from of committing to a program. That is why I signed up for the 10K, a training program, and now the 21-Day oral care challenge. I need accountability and am excited that Listerine will be checking in with me daily.

To help us all stay motivated, the Listerine 21-Day Challenge will send you an email every day. You will be able to report if you completed your rinsing routine. You will also be able eligible to win some awesome prizes. The prizes include a FitBit, a $100 gift card to the Container Store, and an Amazon Fire TV.  I will happily rinse my mouth twice a day for a chance to win one of those awesome gifts! How about you? Ready to sign up?

What about the rest of the family? Is it a daily battle to get your kids to brush their teeth? Do they floss? Do they use mouth wash? As I child, I had a lot of cavities and it is super important to me to make sure my children have healthy teeth and we avoid cavities as long as possible. I would love for them to make it to adulthood without a single cavity. So far so good. At 9 and 4 they have very healthy teeth. But I have had to get very creative over the years to win the battle over brushing. We have always made them brush twice a day. When teaching them how to brush on their own I took pictures of my children brushing their top teeth, their bottom teeth, and their “shark” grin. Then I laminated the pictures and hung them in the bathroom so they would have a visual aid to see the 3 steps. Now that they know how to brush their teeth I try different things to keep them motivated. We use a chart to track if they have brushed twice a day over the course of a week. They circle yes or no and then at the end of the week they can decide if they made their teeth happy or not. We are also trying to build the habit of flossing. My 9 year old can floss on his own by my 4 year old does not have the manual dexterity so I do it for him. Using mouthwash with our children has always been easy but never a real habit as I once again admit I did not realize how important it was to use mouthwash. Our kids think using mouthwash is fun because we have always used Listerine Smart Rinse. They love squeezing the bottle to measure the right amount and then pouring it into their cups. They also love to spit and this is the one time that I actually encourage it so of course they want to do it. We will be adding a twice daily rinsing to our routine. Mouthwash for children can sometimes be hard to find in stores. If you can’t find Listerine Smart Rinse at your usual store I suggest going to Walgreens. They have a great selection of Listerine products for kids and adults but you can also get many other wellness products to help you and your family stick with your new healthy habits this year.

We have a free printable for you. This is the chart we use to track our daily brushing habits with our kids. I hope it helps you form healthy habits for them and I hope you have signed up for the Listerine 21 Day Challenge for yourself.

Did You Brush Your Teeth Today Printable Chart PDF