Honestly, I doubt dentists are teaming up with social media yet—though maybe they should be. But even if they did, would teens actually listen? I mean, when I was younger, I'd trust some random YouTuber over my dentist any day (sad but true). Maybe the real question is how do we make professional dental advice seem as appealing as these DIY hacks without costing a fortune...?
I've seen some dentists on TikTok actually, but I wonder if teens even take them seriously or just scroll past? My son rolls his eyes whenever I forward him anything remotely educational. Maybe it's not just about making dental advice appealing, but also about getting teens to realize the consequences of these hacks before they try them out. How do you even convince a teenager that losing teeth is a real risk without sounding like you're exaggerating...?
Honestly, teens have a built-in radar for anything remotely educational—my younger sister is the same way. But maybe instead of forwarding TikToks, casually mentioning a horror story (like this braces DIY disaster) during dinner might do the trick. I remember my dentist once jokingly said, "Teeth don't grow back, you know," and weirdly enough, that stuck with me. Sometimes humor and subtle scare tactics beat direct advice...or maybe I'm just easily freaked out by dental stuff.
Yeah, subtle scare tactics can work wonders. When my daughter started getting into those DIY braces videos, I casually mentioned a friend's kid who ended up needing expensive surgery after trying something similar. Didn't push it, just let the story hang there...next day she quietly asked if we could book the orthodontist appointment she'd been resisting. Sometimes teens just need to connect the dots themselves.
Good call mentioning that story—it sticks better than lecturing. I've seen a few DIY disasters in the clinic myself, and unfortunately, fixing damage afterward tends to be way pricier (and more painful) than doing it right from the start...
