Teeth Brushing

Hi S.,

I am a mom of 3. I have two boys ages almost 6 and 3 1/2 and a little girl 7 1/2 mos. What I started doing with the boys, and WORKED EVERYTIME, was after tub time I would tell them that I have to brush the food out of his mouth. But, the fun part is what I would say and do. If they had pizza that night for dinner or hot dogs, I would say I see a little pizza guy waving to me and laughing because I can't get him, so I would chase him all over his mouth brushing up and down and all around and when finished I would pull the toothbrush out and say "I GOT HIM" no cavities for you. They cracked up and would even tell me what they ate at dinner and remind me to catch this one and get that one. That was probably 1 1/2 yrs. ago when I started that and now they brush on their own. It really worked. I hope this info helps. I know how hard it was to brush before I started to do that.
S.

Going to the dentist young is a great thing. With my son they do " lap exams" where you hold him on your lap, laying down so the dentist can take a look inside. I have two friends whose 4 and 5 year old wound up having to have surgery, at CHOP, to remove extremely decayed teeth that were never noticed because they never went to a dentist.

At 15 months, reasoning isn't going to do a bit of good, so if you can't find a fun way to get him to open up, you may need to just give him a tight hug and get a soft brush in there.

Good Luck.

You might try letting him brush his teeth. Even if he only rubs it around and bites on it, it is better than not doing it at all and it does help. My 23 month old will finally let me brush her teeth after she has brushed them. I just tell her it's my turn now and it works usually.

Good luck.

I was told by my Dentist that you can let them chew on a brush and that'll work instead of fighting with them to brush their teeth.They said when cleaning up after dinner give them a toothbrush and let them chew on it while you clean.
HTH.
J.
And dentists around here say 3years-old is when they should start seeing a dentist for check ups.I always took my younger ones with me to appointments and they'd look in their mouths...good luck

We've been very bad with having my three year-old brush his teeth. Only recently have we tried -- it was mostly because sleep was such a struggle, we didn't want to struggle with anything else. He loves the "firefly" toothbrush -- you press the bottom, and it lights up the whole handle. The idea is that it teaches them how long to brush, because it stays lit for as long as they should brush. To get him interested, we actually turn out the light and it glows. (Not so good for seeing what you are doing, but we manage.) There are singing toothbrushes, too. That's been working for us of late. BTW, you can get them for a buck at Aldis.

I used to give my kids their toothbrushes while in their high chairs and let them do it themselves. Then I would take "Mommy's turn" and do a quick brush on each. Now they are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 and we follow the same routine, except Mommy's turn is a little longer. They even ask for another turn when I am done. They also like to sing a brushing song by Raffi and part of a song by Laurie Berkner that talks about fish brushing their teeth.

Mine went through a phase of not wanting me to brush their teeth as well. As others said, try a game - while it takes a bit of energy, it is often the best way to "win" the battle with a little one. They forget that they don't want to do it. It was probably about that age that we started using 2 tooth brushes....they had one and I had one. Then I'd sneek in a few brushes along side their brush. I figured that it helped to keep brushing from being a miserable thing for all of us and at least they got a little cleaning while they chewed on the brush.

My oldest had her dentist visit (where she actually got checked and didn't just watch/help check my husband and I) just before her 4th birthday. My middle child also went at the same time so he was 2.5. But they think that they are twins so he is often ready for things a little earlier than she was. Our dentist says that he wants to see them first when they are OK with Santa. He encourages us to bring them to our visits and shows them his mask and all of this tools to help them be comfortable before their first visit. Our dentist is also very good at playing games through the exam - having them touch their nose to make the chair go up or pulling an ear to make it lower. It really made for pleasant visits with mine.

S.,
My dentist recommended my son's first appt to be at age 3! Have you tried the little finger-tip brush? Also, if he's teething, he may like to chew on a toothbrush! Do the best you can. I used top tell my son I was looking for animals in his mouth. "Let's see-there's a giraffe over thee (brush brush....etc.) Always try to wipe off milk before he goes to sleep & don't let him take a bottle/sippy of milk to bed! Good luck to you.

Hi! My son hates to brush also. Here are a few things that I have tried: "Chasing the dinosaurs" (pretending they hide behind teeth, etc.) You could substitute a favorite animal, or character, etc. He loves Buzz Lightyear, so we "chase Zurg" now. He's also getting into superheroes, so we "chase bad guys". You get the idea.
Another suggestion is to buy a battery-powered toothbrush. They come in the shape of fire engines, spaceships, etc. and do a much better job of brushing than a regular toothbrush, especially since he's probably not brushing for very long. (None of them do at this age!)
There's also a new toothbrush that plays music that they can "hear" through their teeth that only works when they're brushing. I've never tried it, but have seen it on TV. You might want to ask a pediatric dentist or pediatrician also for some suggestions. Good luck!

Hi S.! Mine is the same way! What I do is brush the fronts for him and try to get the backs and then I left him chew on it to really get his backs good. I tell him to brush his teeth and he does :) He loves to rinse the brush off when he's done and try to put it back himself. Online I saw dentists recommend 1 year for the first check up, I took my son at 18 months and the dentist said that was an excellent time. He told me I wouldn't believe how many parents wait too long and their kids have cavities and their teeth are rotten because they waited so long. 2 year olds with cavities!!!! Anyway, he just checked out the teeth and gave me a baggie full of stuff to help brush with and talked about mine and DH's dental history. He also told me to try and floss my sons teeth because they were small and close together. He gave me toddler flossers lol THAT has definately been a struggle, but I know cavities would be worse. I'm so glad I took him at 18 months, definately make that appointment. It can't hurt and then you don't have to go back with him for another year :)

S.,
First of all, the dentist probably won't make an appointment until he is older unless there is a medical concern. 3yrs was the recommendation for me, however if you call and express your concern I'm sure they would answer it on the phone. The dentist may be a little scary at 15 months too. Anyway, try a couple things, letting him pick out his own toothbrush my kids love doing that! Also, try letting him have a turn doing his teeth then you have a turn. And/or mke a game out of it, when my kids opened their mouth I would say I saw all the things they ate that day. So I would so "oh, we got to clean off that peanut butter and jelly on this tooth and oh there is a cracker on that tooth. They thought it was funny! Maybe try getting a little stand alone mirror that he can look into and see his teeth and watch you brush. And if you think he is real sensitive at this point then just be a real gentle brusher, at his age the teeth are spaced out enough that it doesn't take much to get clean! Good luck Jennifer