The Listerine 21-Day Challenge starts today and I am thrilled that my family is taking part! Won’t you and your family join us? Oral health care is important and here is a challenge that will help us to get better!
After reading some of the facts from Listerine it really makes me want to improve on our oral care habits and as mamas, we can all influence every member of our family to do a better job! Let’s all take part, because did you know:
- Brushing alone misses 75% of your mouth? That’s a big percentage, scary in fact.
- There are more germs in your mouth than people on this earth. Yea, even scarier, right?
- Oral disease is the most chronic childhood illness in the U.S.
- Nearly half of American adults suffer from some form of periodontal (gum) disease and may not even know it.
- Indicators of gum disease are bleeding gums from brushing or flossing, red gums, swollen or shiny gums, and a sticky film on the teeth (known as plaque) above the gum line, even after you brush.
- As many as 130 million Americans lack dental insurance.
- More than 1 million school hours and 164 million work hours are lost each year due to dental disease.
Listerine’s 21-day challenge is vital in helping to change these shocking numbers. Twenty-one days isn’t long, but it’s all we need to form a healthy habit! As a family, we are taking part in the challenge and hope to help Listerine spread the word and educate others about the importance of establishing good oral care habits.
I am excited and nervous about the challenge! Excited because I know how good this will be for our family. Nervous because I am afraid of failing in our goals. I have to admit that I’ve been failing my family in the oral care department. Yes, we brush our teeth. My husband and I use mouth wash. The problem? It’s not as consistent as it needs to be. We try so very hard to be consistent with brushing LA’s teeth and we recently started brushing the few teeth that Addy has. Ourselves though? We brush daily, but sometimes not more than once. Yuck, I know. We floss, but not as often as we need to. So, with this challenge we are going to brush, floss and use mouth wash TWO times each day for the next 21-days, and beyond. Our bedtime routine for LA and Addy involves brushing their teeth but my husband and I are going to make every effort to make it a family affair and brush at that time, too! Not only will it help us remember and make the time, but it will show our little ones that mama and daddy are brushing too!
Using Listerine Antiseptic mouthwash twice a day for 30 seconds will help you clean virtually 100% of your mouth. That’s literally just ONE extra minute per day, it can’t get any easier! You can get up to five times healthier gums in just two weeks, nine times healthier gums in four weeks. Not only is Listerine helping my family (and hopefully yours) to improve oral health habits but, for every person who signs up for the challenge, they are making a contribution to help Oral Health America’s Smiles Across America program toward their goal of connecting 210,000 children with needed oral health services in 2013.
In an effort to improve your own oral care, I invite you to take part of this challenge with Listerine! You can sign up by visiting the Listerine Facebook page, where you can also learn more about the partnership with Oral Health America. You can also sign up for a fun reminder app where you can adopt a “pet mouth” to help keep them on track during the challenge! That sounds like something the kids would enjoy, doesn’t it? 
Disclosure: I received products 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 and are not influenced in any way.
My family already uses Listerine! I use the mouthwash every night before bed and I think it’s so effective!
Glad to hear, Janet! We really like their mouthwash, too! Thanks for stopping by!