People.com Celebrity Parents Kids Are Starting to Brush Their Teeth Later Than Recommended, Using Too Much Toothpaste: Study More than 38 percent of children from the age of 3 to 6 are using a higher volume of toothpaste than recommended, the CDC reported Friday By Jen Juneau Jen Juneau Twitter Jen Juneau is a digital news writer for PEOPLE. A '90s teen and horror film connoisseur, she started at the brand in 2016, after a decade of working as a technical writer and then moonlighting as a journalist beginning in 2013. Originally from New Orleans, Jen grew up both in NOLA and Florida and eventually attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando (still her home base!), where she earned a bachelor's in English/technical communication, with a minor in magazine journalism. People Editorial Guidelines Published on February 1, 2019 03:01 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Getty Toothpaste no doubt tastes so good because it gets kids to want to brush their teeth more — but are they using too much of it? A study published Friday on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website revealed an analysis of over 5,000 children aged 3 to 15 found that more than 38 percent of kids from 3 to 6 years old use more toothpaste than the CDC recommends, which is a pea-sized amount. (For children under age 3, they recommend a rice-grain size.) “Fluoride use is one of the main factors responsible for the decline in prevalence and severity of dental caries and cavities (tooth decay) in the United States,” the report states, adding that children should not begin using toothpaste containing fluoride until age 2. Before citing the statistics, the study explains that the “Ingestion of too much fluoride while teeth are developing can result in visibly detectable changes in enamel structure such as discoloration and pitting (dental fluorosis).” Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Parents newsletter. Child brushing his teeth. Getty Jessica Simpson’s Dentist Shocked by Her (Lack of) Brushing Habits In addition, the results — compiled by a team of doctors and dentists including Gina Thornton-Evans, Michele L. Junger, Mei Lin, Liang Wei, Lorena Espinoza and Eugenio Beltran-Aguilar — showed that a whopping 80 percent of kids began brushing their teeth later than recommended. The CDC recommends parents begin brushing their little ones’ teeth “when the first tooth erupts,” around 6 months old, as well as bringing them in for their first dental visit no later than 1 year. “Parents and caregivers can play a role in ensuring that children are brushing often enough and using the recommended amount of toothpaste,” the study said. Children brushing their teeth. RELATED VIDEO: Brother and Sister Get Their Wisdom Teeth Out at the Same Time “The findings suggest that children and adolescents are engaging in appropriate daily preventive dental health practices; however, implementation of recommendations is not optimal,” the report went on. “Careful supervision of fluoride intake improves the preventive benefit of fluoride, while reducing the chance that young children might ingest too much fluoride during critical times of enamel formation of the secondary teeth.” Speaking with ABC7 New York, Chicago-based pediatric dentist Dr. Mary Hayes advised that while “fluoride is a wonderful benefit” to the health of children’s teeth, “it needs to be used carefully.” “You don’t want them eating it like food,” she told the station. “We want the parent to be in charge of the toothbrush and the toothpaste.”