Oral health is an important factor in the overall picture of your child's health. It can impact a child's self-confidence and, over time, cause them to miss time at school and extracurriculars. Sadly, that doesn't make oral health care accessible to everyone in this country.
Many African American and Hispanic children around the country get caught in the "smile gap." Their parents want to do everything they can to keep up their oral health, but preventative care is out of reach. Oral-B and Crest are looking to close the smile gap, and they've enlisted Christina Milian to help.
The actress/singer/mom of three has been touched by this very issue in her own life. Christina opened up about how her own experiences brought her to get involved in closing the smile gap. She also revealed how she stays on top of oral health in her home with three kids at different stages of their journey, in a chat with LittleThings.
Christina remembers seeing her parents dealing with oral health issues.
Christina is the daughter of two Cuban immigrants who grew up without access to oral health care. As a child, she remembers seeing her parents deal with different tooth problems.
"My parents, both of them, came from Cuba, and they didn't have access to health care, oral health care, as well as the products that would actually help them avoid some of the issues that they've dealt with later on in life," she explained.
"As a child, I witnessed my mom suffer for many years from pain. She would have to go to the dentist to deal with getting root canals. And all the hard stuff that she had to deal with as I was growing up, it just looked really painful."
Christina's parents made a point to emphasize oral health, and it stuck.
"Between my mom and my dad, they made sure that they implemented good habits with us from early on," Christina noted.
"From brushing our teeth often, to brushing your tongue, to flossing, they made it fun. And so with that, it just became a normal part of my lifestyle. And now I'm able to pass [the] same kind of habits to my kids as well."
Christina has three kids at different stages with their oral health.
The actress has a busy lifestyle, but she's never too busy to take an active role in her children's health. She's mom to 11-year-old Violet, 22-month-old Isaiah, and 7-month-old McKenna.
"Luckily my daughter, who's 11, at this point now she's pretty good with how to do it, so it's mostly when you do it. I think it's the first thing that we say, after breakfast, [is] like, 'Brush your teeth.' And then after dinner, it's like, 'Did you brush your teeth?'"
"Sometimes you just go spend some time and just do it with her. I'll go brush my teeth at the same time with her and make sure that she's doing it for the right amount of time," she continued.
"With my little ones, they have the little mini toothbrushes which are really cute. I just let them play with it and, at the same time, brush their teeth for them."
"It's really sweet because my son, Isaiah, he really will, like, stop and let me do it at first. It was one of those things — like, he just wanted to put [the] toothbrush in his mouth and suck on it. So after a bit, I'm like, 'Now let me show you how to do it,' and so I actually let him do it to me.
"It's become very normal for him to actually allow me to brush his teeth, and then after I'm done brushing his teeth he goes back in and does it himself. It's really, really sweet."
Christina has some suggestions for moms trying to help their kids stay on top of oral health.
Christina believes starting early can get kids into the habit of good oral health care.
"It starts early, and if you can implement things like flossing and make it more of a normal part of their lifestyle, it will definitely save them from a lot of issues later in life," she shared.
"It's great when you can stand by next to them and get it done at the same time. It's one thing to tell them to do it and to send them upstairs, but kids also zone off so quick," she noted.
"So make it fun, just go in there. Sometimes I play a video of kids brushing their teeth since kids oftentimes follow what they see. You could find songs, you can find old videos from Sesame Street, things like that."
This holiday season, Christina's looking forward to more special moments with her kids.
Christina has her sights set on good food and good fun with her family this holiday season.
"I come from a Cuban family, so we eat rich foods, and this is the time of the year to do it," she laughed.
"But I think we're looking forward to when we go back to California, because right now, we're in Paris. Once we get back, it's going to the neighborhoods to go see all the Christmas lights."
"There's certain areas like Candy Cane Lane in Los Angeles," she continued.
"We like to drive through and get hot chocolate. Sometimes my sisters even make hot chocolate and sell it. We do little fun family things during the holidays that bring about the holiday cheer, like listening to Christmas songs."
Christina shared what she's most excited for in 2022.
Christina opened up about what lies ahead for her in the new year, including a new acting gig.
"I have a series coming out on Starz called Step Up: High Water, so I'm excited about that," she shared.
"It's something that I shot this past year, so I'm really excited to finally see it."
Christina's also excited to expand on her business with her bestie.
"In the coming year, me and my best friend have our own café and we serve beignets. It's called Beignet Box. We now have four locations, and we're looking forward to expanding and growing more," she said excitedly.
"So we're looking forward to opening some more, and growing more. A lot of people really like our beignets, so it's exciting to start up a business and watch it become more and more successful."
