How Much Toothpaste to Use

“Your teeth are going to become black and fall out of you mouth by your thirteenth birthday!” Between your mom's doomsday warnings about what will befall your mouth should you fail to brush often enough, your dentist's nagging that you don't floss enough, and TV's barrage of advertisements promoting the importance of dazzlingly, blindingly white teeth, kids can get pretty scared of what might happen to their teeth, and many start overcompensating by putting huge mounds of toothpaste on their brushes. After all, more toothpaste must mean cleaner teeth, right? Wrong. According to the American Dental Association, a child needs only a small amount of toothpaste for brushing, the equivalent of the size of their pinky finger's nail, while adults need a thin layer just long enough to cover the length of the bristles, and not a pile. An integral part of your family dental plan should not be to simply have your kids brush more, but to brush correctly.