To stop brushing 18 month olds teeth

I wouldn't be wrapping him in a towel or holding him between my legs or prying his jaw open. His response is a stress response and you will be breaking trust of you respond with force

I would take a break for 2 or 3 days entirely and let him calm down. The come back to it with a bit of toothpaste on his or your finger, or both and you rub your finger over your teeth and he rub his finger over his. Give him lots of smiles and cuddles when he's done it.

Do that for a few days of it's not stressful.
Then repeat with a soft manual toothbrush. Let him see you do what you want to do to him.

But overall try to remove the anxiety and stress form the current situation and start again.

It’s my least favourite time of day, twice a day! I don’t remember my older child being this awful over it but I’m sure they were, all kids seem to be. I’ve been warned off (solely) letting them do it themselves due to people in childcare telling me stories of bad tooth rot so I’ve always insisted it’s a me job, we did older child’s exclusively (they could do a top up) until they were 5 and the dentist said they could do it. What currently seems to work is they choose what song I sing to them whilst I brush, I do a few verses of whatever’s being demanded until I’m happy I’m done. With my older child I made up a tooth brushing song to their favourite nursery rhyme. Sometimes they also want to ‘do’ mine if they let me do theirs. I let them go over their own with their toothbrush after I’ve done it though they just seem to suck on the water or try and eat pure toothpaste. I know it’s a (hellish) phase but it will pass and it’s so important. I’ve always taught my older child that my job is to “keep you safe” and that involves all things health including dreaded teeth!

I'm another one that pinned mine down between my legs, they are teens now and really good at brushing, the resistance didn't last long (although to be fair they are fairly obedient children so it might not work for everyone) at that age I told them it was the good way (them opening nicely,) or the pinning down, that was the 2 options. Oral hygiene is a non negotiable as its just so important.

We’ve done various things at different times. Our current routine is to let him zone out watching Bluey while holding a baby electric toothbrush with a bit of paste on. Every now and then I manage to get control of the toothbrush and do a few teeth, or to ask him to move the brush to the other side. If he takes the brush out of his mouth we pause the cartoon to remind him to brush. I aim to get both sides top and bottom and the back and front of the front teeth most attempts and do it twice a day. We spend about ten minutes each time doing that, feels better to me to have the screen time than to be physically forcing it and creating negative associations. We also try to keep sweet snacks to meal times, follow meals and snacks with a bit of cheese and water and not give any juice drinks or anything like that to sip on through the day.

Why on earth would anyone pin a child down to brush their teeth no wonder why they are scared

There is no way dentists would advise this and yes brushing teeth is important, at that ag3 we just got them to chew on a brush and slowly took ot from there

Way to traumatise kids

Yeah! Just let his teeth fall out! Sounds like a great plan!!

These are completely ineffective.
As others have said OP, you have to continue however distressing it is for both of you. You are doing it in his best interests.

Have you tried turning it into a game? This turned things around for us. We'd pretend there were lots of little 'monsters' hiding in DD's mouth, who we had to brush away. We'd pretend they were darting around and hiding from us - 'ooh look, there's a blue one, let's get him... oh no! He's darted behind that tooth there, let me get him.... PING! He's out. Yes!! Let's get the others... oh, there's a cheeky red one... oh she's really sneaky, she's running away and hiding...'

You get the picture.

Making things into a game was really the only way to get DD to do anything for a while. Thankfully that phase is now long gone, but it did get us through these years.

My son had to have six crowns at 2 years old under general anaesthetic due to tooth decay (breastmilk at night).

Do not do this.

Brush your teeth at the same time as him and maybe put some music on, saying that you have to brush your teeth together until the song has finished. Make a reward chart. Buy a few different brushes and let him choose the colour. Try kids toothpaste. Keep foing. You'll get there.

Find it bizarre how many people think it's normal and the correct thing to pin a child down to do there teeth no wonder there terrified of dentists when they come. As a dental nurse we say let a child play with toothbrushes from when they can hold one, transfer that to bath, get them to copy you no paste just at play for a few weeks increasing amount of time, slowly add paste....we currently have 4 toddlers and all will go to there toothbrush pots on the sink every morning don't need to be asked and at night they want squeaky clean teeth in case the fairies come to visit lol. Did same with olders and never had problems with brushing or dentist trips.

I couldn't use force. We introduced a brush as soon as they got their teeth and let them chew on it. We always let them do it first then play hunt the sugar bug, so I would look in their mouth and see a sugar bug and have to use the brush to get rid of it. Letting them choose a new tooth brush and a different flavoured toothpaste also made it more fun for them. Of they were being reluctant I would let them have the toothbrush whilst they were allowed to watch a programme. If they were really refusing I wouldn't battle with them but this was quite rare as they felt in control using the steps we did. No fillings, no issues and they all would happily brush their teeth twice a day without being asked as children.

Please tell me when the fight ends???

I'm 8 years down the road and still fighting. Marginally better with Sensodyne kids toothpaste recommended by dentist, less foamy than other kids toothpaste.
And we skip toothpaste in the morning, just brush with the remains of the night before toothpaste

My DS went to school with another kid who in Year 1 had to have 11 teeth out in one session due to not brushing and they had rotten and he had assesses.

If distraction doesnt work then pinning him down it will have to be. You are in charge and its parenting.
If you can finger brush do that at least x

We had success playing this video while brushing teeth

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GXZzhzTAedw&ra=m

Absolutely do not listen to this op. DO NOT pin him down and "go for it".

Actually there’s a version that had an actual video with characters brushing their teeth. You could look for that one.

Edited to get rid of double post

The Pajanimals tooth brushing song worked very well for us. Also sometimes still use one of those baby rubber brushes you wear over your finger (for the youngest who is 2 years old).

Give im the brush
Leave him to do it infront of a mirror so he can see himself.
Make it fun not forced.

Talk to his doctor or a paediatric dentist. This will not be a new issue to either of them.

Give him his own brush and you take your own brush and both of you brush your teeth together. Sing a wee song to the tune of a recognised tune like row row row your boat. Sing 'brush brush brush your teeth, brush them nice and clean. Make them shine and make them nice, so we can go to sleep/play' Then when he makes ANY attempt to put the brush in his mouth or move it back and forth, clap and praise him. Tell him yay that's it! You can do it! Babies absolutely love to do things themselves at this age and adore to be praised and encourage. They just want to please you.
In time, you'll be able to do it after he does. Let him brush your teeth as well and give lots of praise. Smile and make noises that your teeth are lovely and fresh and you're happy once they're brushed. With little kids it's all about play and making everything fun and interesting. God bless you both ❤️

This is absolutely fine and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. As long as you're removing plaque it will be okay. Lots of praise. He's a big boy, he's 8. Big boys brush their teeth so they become big strong men. Coconut oil and a drop of peppermint might be better? No foam at all then. Cut down on sugar if you can, as that's the absolute main culprit.

I just feel like everyone saying pin their arms down doesn’t get the issue… it’s the clamping the teeth down - if you get the brush in at all they bite down on it and you can’t move it around. What are you supposed to do about that? It takes some real force to jab your fingers into their jaw to unclench it - enough to genuinely bruise and hurt them. And as if you could get 2 minutes of actual brushing in! Am I missing something with the ‘pin them down and do it’ brigade??

The biggest cause of hospital admissions for children is due to dental issues.

brushing teeth should not be an option