The definitive guide to protecting children's teeth.... what are your best teeth-saving tips?

My kids quite enjoy getting their teeth cleaned now that I have bought them each a funky battery powered tooth brush. DS has a Shrek one and DD has Winnie the Pooh toothbrush.

I like them to drink milk or water, fizzy drinks are a rare treat.

I like them to snack on toast and marge or crisps if need be. But they both love chocolate buttons, so I buy the fun size packs.

To make sure their teath are done properly, I do their teeth. DH isn't very dextrous and can be heavy handed sometimes!!

They go to nursery twice a week, and their teeth get brushed after lunch there.

Got into habit of taking kids to densist early on for regular chats and little looks in their mouths!!

Thanks everyone, you have finally spurred me on to get registered with a dentist! DS's first visit this Thursday and my first one since, well, a few years ago!
It's a blimmin minefield... I can't believe it about raisins and dried fruit. Thought I was doing the right thing.
All my nephews (ages 1-4) have been advised to use toothpaste not less than 1000 count of fluoride. I have happily been using macleans milk teeth (500) toothpaste and mainly letting him do the brushing thinking as long as a bit of toothpaste gets in there it'll be OK. After reading this thread I will be changing a few habits.
What is the verdict on sugar free squash? Is it just as bad?

Dd didn't get her first teeth until 11 months and had first visit to the dentist at 12 months...he had huge trouble getting past that top lip, lol!

I took my dc's to the dentist when they were 6 months old (the dentist told me to), "to get them used to going" (to use the dentists words)?

My eldest dc (3) loves going to the dentist, as he gets to go in the "magic chair" and gets stickers. I have also had no probs with getting him to brush his teeth, as I started early with him. I used to explain to him how great it is to have "beautiful sparkly teeth" and how pleased the "dentist lady would be to see his beautiful teeth". Now he's got no problem with brushing his teeth. I brush them for him, he then cleans them again with his electric brush (which he loves!) that way I know his teeth are clean because I cleaned them, and he gets to have some fun cleaning them himself.

My younger ds (1) hated having his teeth brushed-until he got used to seeing his brother having his brushed with a brightly coloured brush. Now he has the same coloured brush that he happily chomps on after brushing.

by the way - 1) at what age should they start going to the dentist?
2) where do you get flouride drops/tablets and at what age do you give them?

My little boy got his 1st tooth at 6mths, I bought him a baby toothbrush & every day i'd sit him on my knee for 5mins & let him explore his mouth with the brush. It worked wonders for when he got older & we started brushing his teeth properly with toothpaste.

Wish I'd known about the dried fruit menace earlier on - dd has had 4 fillings and she's not quite 4. and it looks like she needs another. Dentist put it down to raisins and fruit juice. I think no fluoride in the water is a big problem though obviously this is contorversial. ds was born in australia (where the water is fluoridated) and lived there till he was 3. he's more prone to sweets and lazy teeth brushing (he's now 14 so cute tricks with the toothbrush really don't help) than his little sister but has never had a filling in his life (and he had more than his fair share of raisins and juice too). I'd give fluoride tablets if i was to have another - the dentist says I've left it too late for dd as all her teeth have formed already. Does anyone use them? Is it really too late to start?

the best toothbrush I have found for wee ones was just in my local chemist. it has a kind of round handle with a hole in the middle and our 10 month old can grab it really easily. mirror works well too (she is so vain) so now she won't let me brush her teeth, she has to do it herself. brushing teeth alongside daddy worked well too...he is far cooler in her eyes than I am. And we got some Macleans minty toothpaste in our Bounty pack which she likes - altho we only give her a scraping. I am dead against giving her children's pastes that are flavoured like strawberry...or even 'bubblegum' flavour, I have seen! Also heard the tip about not rinsing.

There are very few places in England that have flouridated water.
I always had great trouble brushing Ds's teeth and even now at nearly 10, he is very lazy with it. Dd is 16 months and just about has 8 teeth, but she too hates having them brushed. It's amazing how strong their upper lip is!
I keep trying to scare Ds with horror stories to ensure he takes better care of his teeth, but nothing seems to work.
I don't give my Dc's sweets or squash/fizzy etc. Water is the drink Ds has, although if he had the chance/choice of course he'd go for other...Dd is still on breast milk, but also drinks water now.

My mum who is almost 67 has all her own teeth and they are beautiful. Dad is 76 and still has some of his, though this year seems to be the year of false ones for him... Good genes are the biggest key I think.

My Ds had several types of anti biotic at 17 months after cutting off the end of his thumb and having it re attached; they were very necessary to stop rejection. His teeth seem to be fine.

Right, off to clean my railings now before bed! Night all...

My 2 year old loves the electric toothbrush, but the other tip I have is to have 2 toothbrushes on the go at once. We have a green one and a pink one and Daddy helps brush the top teeth with the green one while ds uses the pink one on the bottom (or whatever - it's all interchangable). Just makes it a bit more fun and less boring.

Also, we started off by making a big fuss about "can you make the noise like this" (brush own teeth enthusiastically). This really got him excited about trying to make more noise than us and therefore brushing his teeth really well.

Make it fun - if it's a game then they'll usually want to play.

Website here has some info. Don't pretend to know how valid any of it is, but it is an issue to consider at least ...www.fluoridealert.org/

Think the remineralisation business works fantastically better in the presence of fluoride. Don't know about other effects of it.

Oh yes. Flouride. Don't know the details but have researched for work in the past and it isn't as straightforwrad as we all think. Have a memory or some massive class action or similar waiting in Ireland about flouridation of the water and that it's causing problems. Can't remember any more and not a big fan of medicating the population anyway... feels so big brother.

Would be fascinated if anyone else knows more.

We try and do the not between meals thing and not make sweets (chocolate only in our house) totally forbidden, worked for my mum and none of us have a massively swet tooth. My dentist is fanatic about dried fruit, so give them only occasionally.

I try not to be totally bonkers about the whole thing, Have a GP friend who says Pah to sugar, it's salt you need to worry about, then again he gives his child lollipops, which are a major, major no no in our house...

Advice - Bruhing a toddlers teeth. Nightmare, so if it is in your house too you're not alone. We do bath in the eves and sink and steps in the mornings. When encountering resistance we try various combinations of exciting/interesting things on rota. So flashing toothbrushes, new toothbrushes, different toothpaste, singing happy brithday while trying to brush (sing it twice and that's almost your 2 minutes), mirror, let's do it quickly and then we'll play with your blah bath toy/blow bubbles in the bath. Let's do it standing up like a big boy at the sinke, let's race because I'll bet I can finish mine before you (have to get quite worked up about on no you're going to beat me agggh), encouraging outrageous spitting in the bath works well sometimes, though it's messiy of course. Also threats, have to do it so your mouth doesn't get hurty, do it or the water in the bath goes now/straight to bed, or on my worst days because mummy will get cross in a minute...Oh the shame.

Keen to add an electric toothbrush to the armoury. DS is 3 any recommendations most welcome...

I think you should brush their teeth for them at that age. Mine like to do it themselves, but then I 'check' it afterwards - ie, do it properly.

Get going now - I get more inclined to do it when I think that a check-up is about £45, but treatment is much more.

Should add that I have lots of fillings. Mum blames Dad, who fed us regularly on sweets which she refused to buy!!!

My hygienist said electric brushes weren't any good for children, as they just wiggle them around and think they've done a good enough job. Is this true? I'd prefer them to use the electric one, really. I switched to manual as a result of the conversation with said hygienist, but the dcs just wiggle those around, too. DD (nearly 4) will let me brush her teeth for her (though it's hardly the recommended technique - more like a quick in and out), but DS (nearly 6) objects strongly. I have to confess they've not been near a dentist in about three years - I am still trying to summon up the will to pay £120 to have someone spend a few minutes with a mirror in their mouths... But will probably pay for this (literally) when they end up with fillings!!

As said before - choose your parents/genes!

Electric/battery-powered toothbrushes have, I think, been proven to be better for teeth-cleaning for adults, so guess the same is for kids, but ensure the bristles aren't too 'hard' and that kids don't press too hard. My kids are desperate for the musical ones that play a two-minute song, which helps them time their cleaning. Some kids toothbrushes have quite large heads, though, and I'm sure they would find it easier to use smaller ones.

Have asked our dentist about flossing and she said not yet (ours are 6 and 9) but purely of their own volition my two have started to use kids mouthwash after brushing. Seems to engage them with the idea of cleaning generally, so no bad thing.

Def get them into the habit of drinking water if they are thirsty - I have been appalled by seeing parents of very small children giving their kids juice in baby bottles between milk feeds. And brush teeth after everything else at nighttime. Kids don't know anything different, so get them into good routines from the start.

And the old trick of showing them my appalling mouth and blaming it on too many sweets really works (even though it was actually a combination of sugar-laden medicine before bed for months when I was very young "cos the GP said so", poor genes and a dentist who was later struck off).

Also, education - I have recently talked to mine about plaque and gum disease, and how teeth and gums are connected etc, so why you need to clean around the gumline. As I didn't learn this until my 30s, I thought I would give them a headstart!

Twiglett - you said 'get dentist to seal baby teeth' - I've never heard of it, what does this involve?

Also can anyone tell me how to find out whether there is fluoride in our water?

Ribena is the drink of the devil but unfortunately I love it - ds asks 'is that wine or Ribena mummy?' when I won't let him have a sip of my drink!

A quick tip - my ds used to HATE having his teeth brushed when he was tiny. I tried everything to avoid it becoming a battlefield but it's one of those things that they just have to get used to, along with washing hair which is a whole other thread imo.

I had a breakthrough one night when I brushed his teeth while he was in the bath - he was happy and distracted, and I got two jobs done at once. Clean teeth, clean child, more storytime.

We showed dd Daddy's teeth (loads of black fillings) and told her that your teeth go black if you don't brush them. Never had a problem!

Vitamin D supplements from birth, coupled with fluoride supplements as soon as first teeth come in. It's normal practice where we live in France. Not sure if it's direct cause/effect, but children having cavities is unheard of here.

Think he is a big fan of electric toothbrushes even for young children Tartanmam.

When pressed my dentist said that it is better to clean teeth before breakfast - and after!

I have read that it's better to clean before food as that removes the bacteria that feed on the sugar from the meal. Have never done it though.

He also said something about not brushing teeth straight after sweets of fizzy drinks - something about removing the minerals that have just been leached from the teeth, which may actually be reabsorbed if not washed out of the mouth...

Is it ok to use electric toothbrushes on young children? I can get ds to clean his teeth pretty well if he uses my toothbrush (with his own head) but it is impossible otherwise - have mentioned to others in RL and nobody thought you should be using them so young (he's 2)