My son fell over a few weeks ago and hurt his mouth. He cut the inside of his mouth and bled quite alot, it was the first time he had seen his own blood and was visibly shocked by this. since then his mouth has healed but he won't let me claen his teeth, he used to love having it done before and would even ask for it to be done. how do i get him to clean his teeth again.
Did he hurt one of his teeth? Maybe they are sore.
If not, and it's just a new fear of brushing, let him pick out his own toothbrush. They have all sorts of cool ones, superheros, etc. I couldn't get our toddler to brush, so I bought her a Sesame Street Crest electronic brush. She LOVES it! She could brush all day.
Give him the toothbrush. Give him 12 of them. Let him play with them for a while.
If this takes him two more weeks to forget about, he will not have ruined his oral hygeine for all time. Let him slowly warm up to dental care again as it fades from memory.
i would let him pick out his own toothbrush/toothpaste, make it fun again. they have light up ones, ones with different characters...my son was in danger of never brushing his teeth again too, he is almost 45 lbs and would physically fight me off when i tried, and i got a new "blue" toothpaste (we switched from aquafresh kids to colgate kids, that's all), and magically he now wants to do it all the time. maybe something small like that is all it will take...get him excited about it again? good luck!
I don't think you said how old your son is, but these little guys with fears are a challenge. You just need to go slowly and yet firmly. The sooner he knows it won't hurt him or cause him to bleed again the better he'll be about facing blood again, etc. too. I know it isn't that easy though. Maybe if you talk with him about blood and that it's just a normal thing when you get hurt and how it doesn't 'hurt' but the cut is what hurt, etc., etc. it might help. Usually that type of child responds well to the 'facts'.
