What's in Your Toothpaste?

When I was a small child, I loved to brush my teeth.  I did it several times a day, and apparently since I did it so often my mother was concerned that I was using too much toothpaste.  She was probably concerned because she thought I was wasting it, not because she thought it was bad for me.

After she told me to stop, I guess I got really upset, because after that I didn't want to brush at all, and then when I went to the dentist for the first time, (I was about 9), I had 17 cavities.  Oh, I remember that well, because I was going to the dentist for months trying to get them all fixed.  After that I never had a good check-up, I always had cavities. And of course I learned to hate the dentist.

Fast forward to having kids.  When we first had kids, I didn't know much about healthy living.  We were the typical American family who just bought things thinking they were safe or else they wouldn't sell them.  My oldest son went to the dentist and had crummy teeth like his mom.  I was upset because I knew what it was like.  My second son also started with many cavities.  Of course we all brushed at the time with the typical normal fluoride toothpaste, but it didn't seem to help very much.