Teen and toothbrushing

[hopeishere]

DS (13) is awful about brushing his teeth. If I remind / ask him he gets really cross. He will sometimes do it with nagging but it's rare. He hates the dentist as he had to have a filling once but even the thought of another first put off.

Any ideas on how to get him to do it in a routine way. He actually has lovely even teeth so when brushed they look great.

Buy some disclosing tablets?

Tell him to get a grip?

I don't mean that as unkindly as it sounds, but the reality is, he does need to get a grip because it's 4 minutes a day to keep his only set of teeth healthy.

Disclosing tablets is a good idea!!

Believe me we've discussed it at length!! Toothbrushes everywhere for convenience etc.

He doesn’t go out with his friends if they are not done properly, or go online etc.

He will thank you for it in years to come as teeth neglect is something that can’t be undone

DS gives me his phone and x box controller at night before bed.

He doesn’t get them back until he’s up, fed, clean and his teeth brushed.

How old is your son @condensationwindows? I'm not sure that would work with DS.

@hopeishere

How old is your son *@condensationwindows*? I'm not sure that would work with DS.

13. It’s a rule at night to take the stuff off him. He was caught gaming at 2 am in the Easter holidays. He’s absolutely fine with it. No arguments etc.

Why don’t you think it would work?

Mine are younger so probably easier to get through to but when they had a stage of moaning about doing it I showed them online the damaged teeth of a drug addict and then a Hollywood smile and asked them what teeth they would like when they were older.
The only way to get those teeth would be to take care of them and brush them.
They are 10 and 7 and I stand by them to watch them doing them to make sure they get done, they are in the habit now which is good and they had a check up this week and the dentist commented that she could see they were brushing well.

Just pester and harass him to do them, I agree with taking things away until he does them. It's 2mins out of his life twice a day and when he's older he will be pleased you did it, my mum didn't and my teeth are awful. I can hardly even look at my teeth in the mirror and it's an awful feeling.
Just don't let up with him.

Don’t engage with him being cross with you about it. He’s the one in the wrong and he doesn’t get to kill the conversation by being stroppy. My 15 yo is better now but it took a long time of nagging and several tellings off from the dentist for things to improve. Some teenagers do start to lean towards a bit of a soap dodging phase, which needs to be nipped firmly in the bud for everyone’s sake.

I absolutely would, and have, removed phones/consoles over this sort of thing. If they want the privileges of being older, they have to accept the responsibilities that go with it.

Finally, as I pointed out endlessly to mine, as mum/dad, you are the one who can point all these things out in love. Anyone else is likely to be horrible and as a paren you want to protect them from that.

Over time, mine has come round, so the answers I get if I ask are either ‘yep!’ or ‘thanks for reminding me’.

I'm getting there. I've told him no one ever wants to kiss someone with grungy teeth. It's working, slowly.

It has been an ongoing battle with mine. He is now nearly 18 and he is still rubbish at brushing his teeth even with braces. But. He is old enough to make his own choices being that he is 18 soon. I draw the line at making an adult brush his teeth.

Mine listened to the dentist and when lessons were online he suddenly needed to brush his teeth about 5 times an hour.