Problems Brushing Teeth on Toddler

Okie dokie! I totally know where you are at, and to be honest I had a pediatric dentist tell me to relax and not freak out because these teeth were going to fall out anyway. She told me what I needed to focus on was the act of teaching and guiding my son how to maintain his own teeth, but not depend on him to do it himself.

Your daughter is doing exactly what every other toddler at her age would do!! LOL. My son would chew on it forever if I let him, especially when he was teething...it's a bit too early for her to have mastered the technique completely.

My son's dentist's instructions were super simple, and eased my mind...so, she said to get a tootbrush that my son could associate with a show, doll, cartoon or whatever that I could use to show him how to do it. Explain, Diego (or whoever you choose) is going to help you clean your teeth today, and then to demonstrate, and then show him how to do it while letting him try. As, he has gotten older (now 2) he has gotten the hang of it and actually its a huge part of our morning and bedtime routines. But, as per the dentist, I still follow that up with a wet washcloth to get the spots he missed. My son's dentist said, kids don't really fully get the hang of how to get the job done until about 4 years old and that's just in time, for most kids, for the permenant teeth!

Really it's great what she said, 'think of these as practice teeth'...they still need to be cleaned and taken very good care of but, it's a learning time for your toddler. Every day is about learning something, and mastering something. Just make brushing the teeth a fun experience, and give her some ownership over the process...make it about becoming a big girl.

Good luck.

My son went from cooperative, to stubborn, to out-and-out tantrum throwing when it came to brushing his teeth. One day I was at the store and saw an electric toothbrush in the kids section (it was a little under $6). I thought, what the heck, why not? It says not for under age 3, but since we were doing the real brushing and supervising, I figured it wouldn't matter too much. Lo and behold, brushing became fun again! For awhile anyway. We still find it's much easier with the electric toothbrush, but we still have to keep him "busy" for full cooperation. If my husband is available, he sits him on his lap and reads to him while I brush. If I do it by myself, I sit my son on the toilet (we have a sliding glass mirror door on our shower that my son likes to look into when he's on the toilet) and we take turns using the tooth brush. I count backwards from 10 to 1 for each of us. He is USUALLY cooperative with this method (a timer works too, but involves more work). It takes a lot longer this way, of course, but it's way better than holding him down in a wrestling maneuver like I've had to in the past. Good luck!

what i do with my daughter who has been getting her teeth brushed since like 10 months is that i sit her on my sink infront of my mirror and i hold her head gently and brush her teeth with her tooth brush and paste (non floride in the morning and floride at night (her dentist said only to use a floride toothpaste once a day)). then i let her brush and chew on it herself. she really loves brushing her teeth and gets mad when i put it away. good luck i hope this helps!

I posted the same situation just 2 weeks ago and got a lot of great advise. The one thing I was advised is to say "Let's get the sugar bugs out" and make it a game. Say... there is a pink sugar bug.. and get the toothbrush in her mouth real quick and get it out again real quick. Do a very quick brush on 1 or 2 teeth with each 'sugar bug' color. You may not get all her teeth clean at each session to start out with, but she will learn to enjoy you brushing her teeth. It is working for me. Best of luck.

Try a fingertip toothbrush. Even a quick wipe with a washcloth is better than nothing.

Try the earth's best baby toothpaste with fingertip brush. I don't know if it has floride or not....I should check for myself. It is strawberry banana f;avored, and my baby loves it.

first things first-she is not old enough to brush nor does she have the dexterity. What I do with my 3 yr old and 21 month old is I brush first-I lay them down and then I let them brush. If they do not cooperate I would try this. If there is someone there to help you-sit knee to knee with the other person and one person has the child sit towards them and lays them back in the others lap and you hold their hands and the other person controld the head and brush or vice versa-Hope this helps. L.:)