their child’s risk for caries,
particularly because salivary flow diminishes at night,
reducing its buffering and cleansing effect2. Parents
are more inclined to settle for caries-causing rituals at
bedtime because of their own fatigue at the end of
the day. The goals of this article are illustrated in
Figure 1: First, we provide an overview of different
bedtime rituals that mothers use, followed by a
description of cariogenic practices