This is PEDYACAST.

Welcome to Pediacast, a pediatric podcast for parents.

And now, direct from the campus of nationwide children's, here is your host, Dr. Mike.

Hello, everyone, and welcome.

Once again to Pediacast, it is a pediatric podcast for moms and dads.

This is Dr. Mike coming to you from the campus of nationwide children's hospital. We're in Columbus, Ohio. It is episode 439 for August 15th, 2019. We're calling this one tooth care for kids and teens. We want to welcome all of you to the program.

So 2019 has been the year of the tooth on PDACAST.

This is going to be our third episode on Dental Matters with our resident expert dentist, Dr. Janice Townsend.

It all began back in February when we covered infant teething and toddler tooth care.

That was episode 423.

Then we continued the story in April as we considered dental injuries and emergency tooth care in episode 429.

Our final installment of the series, at least for this year, explores tooth care for older kids, so beyond the toddler years and teenagers.

And truth be told, all of this will be applicable to parents as well as we consider our

own dental hygiene.

So we'll cover brushing and flossing

inconsiderable detail. And yes, there are very important details to consider. What type of

toothbrush is best? I mean, there are so many options, right? Soft and hard bristles, small and

large heads, motorized varieties, hypervibrating options.

Then there's toothpaste. Does it really matter which one you use as long as fluoride

is included in the ingredient list? Does it have to be approved by the American Dental Association?

Or is your toothpaste suspect if that endorsement is missing? We'll ask our expert.

And then what about flossing? What sort of dental floss should you use? What age do you start?

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