An Australian Dental Association survey of 25,000 people released to mark Dental Health Week (4-10 August), has revealed the quirky oral habits of millions of Australians.
Here are some of them:
- Forty three per cent of parents regularly struggle to get kids to clean their teeth.
- In the battle to get kid’s teeth clean, 24 per cent of parents provide positive intervention such as entertaining their kids or brushing their own teeth at the same time, while 21 per cent offer rewards, 20 per cent remove privileges, 20 per cent resort to discipline and nine per cent just “give up.”
- While 85 per cent of kids stay in the bathroom to brush and floss, the rest wander around the house, onto the balcony or out into the garden.
“This presents a choking hazard with young children, and they won’t be getting the job done properly without a mirror or adult assistance,” ADA oral health promoter Dr Monica Farrelly said.
“Keep the bathroom as the only place kids do the brushing and flossing—and perhaps offer rewards for staying put!”
- One in five Australian adults multitasks while teeth cleaning, with 31 per cent using their phone, 16 per cent knocking out household chores like cleaning and laundry, 12 per cent listening to music or a podcast, 10 per cent shaving or doing skincare, nine per cent attending to children’s needs, six per cent going to the toilet and five per cent taking a shower, watching TV, exercising or cooking.
“How some of these other tasks are executed with any accuracy is hard to imagine,” Dr Farrelly said.
“The important thing is to literally stand still in front of a mirror when you’re brushing and flossing so you can see if you are doing it correctly. Without a reflection to see, there’s a degree of guesswork.”
