When I brush my kids' teeth, they tense up their muscles so it's nearly impossible to get the toothbrush between the teeth and the cheeks to brush the back teeth. Anyone have a great trick for getting them to stop tensing. Tickling doesn't help.
Make it a game...what are they "into"? If animals...say "Whoa...I saw a squirrel right back here.....and a fox just ran over to this side......"
Let them try to brush your teeth to show them. That might make it a bit more fun.
When ours were little, I used to pretend I saw things in their mouth. I had to be REALLY creative, and we made a game out of it. I saw a man skateboarding, dragons, all kinds of things. I would do a narrative about what these men and dragons were doing the entire time I was brushing them. They would laugh and open up so I could see where the skateboarder was traveling to next!!
I brush face to face with my kids and have them do exactly what I am doing
We had our son show us his teeth and ROAR like a lion. I also let him have "his" turn brushing his teeth...and then it was "my" turn. We also make up silly songs to help brushing teeth be more fun. (Sang to the tune of Row, Row, Row your boat) Brush, brush brush your teeth...brush them everyday...it you do then you'll keep the cavities away...OR if you don't then your teeth will rot away. Make it fun.
We watch "brush your teeth" cartoons w/funny songs on youtube.com
We do the Ahhhhhh, Eeeeeee, too, like Audra M. But we also add a Blahhhh and have them stick out their tounges so we can brush that too! After we (mom or dad) get them good, we let them have their turn.
We "sing" while we brush our teeth. Aaaaaahhhhh is great for getting the tops and back of teeth and Eeeeeeeeee works for the sides and fronts. We also take turns, I brush my DD's teeth and she gets to brush a couple of mine. That way I know that her teeth are getting cleaned at least once a day.
Also she loves little rewards so if she brushes all week without fuss she gets a small treat or toy to celebrate.
we got one of those battery operated ones that spin, about $5 or so at walmart, with Tomas The Train on it. our son like trains so he thinks it is cool plus the spinning he likes and we let him brush his teeth for awhile and then we take over to make sure they are clean. we started early though, with a regualer kiddie brush, as soon as he started getting teeth so he is really used to it. sometimes he will bite down but that is rare.
I say I am going to "tickle" my daughter's teeth, and she starts giggling, and willingly lets me brush.
I used to let Alex take a turn brushing mine ( with my tooth brush of course) he always thought this was fun.
Our dentist suggested we have our dd close her teeth (instead of holding her mouth and teeth open), which helps to loosen the cheeks up. We were having trouble getting to her gum line as well.
