To think that parents are responsible for their children's teeth?

[insancerre]

Dental surgeon on BBC breakfast
Says that nurseries should be brushing children's teeth
She is regularly removing all 20 baby teethfrom toddlers under a general and giving teenagers false teeth

I work in a nursery and I really don't see this as my responsibility

It's down to parents to take children to the dentist and to brush their teeth

Yes of course it’s the parents responsibility but what I wonder is, how is that supposed to happen when you factor in that some parents are leaving the house at 6:30am to get their children to nursery for 7am, if you take into account that getting their child up and dressed, and having eaten breakfast may take 45 minutes and the 30-60 minute wait before brushing teeth. That wait comes at a loss of sleep, so maybe then I can see how parents are leaving nurseries to brush their kids teeth, not something I would do but.,,,

More to the point, can we talk about the amount of sugar our kids are being fed?

Hungry hippo
Why would they need to wait to brush their teeth?
Can they not do it as part of the washing and dressing routine?

@hungryhippo90 they can just brush teeth as soon as they get up, then dress, then have breakfast.

@insancerre the way I see it, the Nursery staff are investing their time, emotions and a hell of a lot of effort into my children who they have no familial bond with, and that means the world to me. DS2s keyworker cried the first time he said Mummy (he was 3 and non verbal) as much as I did! To know that there are people in my kids’ corner prepared to push for the best for them is something very special indeed.
DS1s Nursery were hideous, but this one is incredible.

Eh? Why can’t you just brush them when they first get up? That’s what we do, then they have breakfast a wee bit later. Then they do them again at Nursery an hour ish after breakfast.

yabu
children in full time nursery should be encouraged to brush teeth after mealtimes.
some dc take all their meals there.

My children's school do it as part of their daily routine. Obviously we brush them twice a day in addition to that (they brush in the morning and we brush them for them at night)

The advice is to brush twice a day
So why can't that be done at home?

some people just don't.
either they don't know how, or they don't care, or they think nursery is doing it...

At my ds1 nursery, they used brush after breakfast and after lunch. I thought that was the norm

Ds2, only went 3 hours- couldn't afford private 2nd time-so no meals. I have noticed ds1 has a better attitude towards oral hygiene, ds2 I have to remind and nag.

The advice is to brush twice a day So why can't that be done at home?

For someone who works with children you seem quite blinkered. Do you work in an affluent area where everyone is a perfect parent? I find it bizarre that you have not been exposed to any children whatsoever who are not vulnerable.

• who are vulnerable

Royalcoronation
I find it bizarre that people are quite happy that their parenting is considered so reckless that they need somebody else to perform basic parenting

I work in a primary school. We help the children in Nursery, Receotion and y1 brush their teeth everyday, after lunch.
Obviously I don’t actually have to do it for them but help with setting it up etc.
Our area has one of the highest rates of child tooth decay in the country and I regularly have children having 10 or more teeth out.
If ten minutes of my day can help to prevent that for even one of them it’s worth it.
Even if it does make me feel a bit sometimes.

What happens then, if teeth are brushed at nursery, but parents don't follow up at home? If tooth decay is increasing in under 5s, that must be happening somehow.

Do we expect schools to police teeth brushing before lunch too?

Royal - the point is, if parents are failing to do the basics then they should be supported to do it, rather than saying don't bother nursery will.

My ds is 12 and needs a tooth out under general, there is nothing wrong with his teeth but we've been waiting 18 months and the reason for the wait is the long list of younger children needing rotten out, this has greatly delayed his orthodontic treatments!

I find it bizarre that people are quite happy that their parenting is considered so reckless that they need somebody else to perform basic parenting

I'm talking about people who probably don't even realise it. They are certainly not happy. Drug addicts, people with mental health problems etc all the things I mentioned before. Sometimes, just sometimes, a small thing is part of a much bigger picture and rather than absolve themselves of any responsibility, nursery workers should be saying 'ok, yes, 2 minute job, will certainly benefit X, Y and Z, we should do this!

the point is, if parents are failing to do the basics then they should be supported to do it, rather than saying don't bother nursery will.

Absolutely. But in the grand scheme if nursery are cleaning teeth with children whilst social services are working with the parents that can still only be a good thing.

find it bizarre that people are quite happy that their parenting is considered so reckless that they need somebody else to perform basic parenting

But it's a safe assumption that those patents don't think their parenting is reckless, they don't give a shit about their kids teeth and health. It's not uncommon for reception children to report to my teacher friend that they don't have a toothbrush at home. The only time those kids get to brush their teeth is in school. The decay of not brushing from birth - age 5 is already set in- how great would it be if those children could be helped earlier by having tooth brushing at nursery.

Yanbu and those making excuses are just.....I don't even know what to say

Sadly some parents won't give a shit. If it was a choice between doing them as a nursery worker or a kid losing their teeth/being in pain I'd probably want to do it for the kids sake even though I shouldn't have too.

I don't think it's the nursery's responsibility at all. Dental hygiene it's definitely a parents responsibility. However, they do it at dds nursery, they all sing this little song and have this little rack with their own brushes on with names on underneath, this is in the 3- 4 age group though, where children can cooperate slightly. I think it's a really great thing, encouraging all round health. I can understand the annoyance at someone putting this at your feet, as if it's your job to do though.

I think avoiding fizzy sugary drinks, cutting back on sweets would have a bigger impact on tooth decay .

I do have a child in the nursery who has had several teeth removed due to decay
His parents are very respectable middle class people with their urn business
No drugs or social services involved

@insancerre that’s a fair point too, there seems to be an assumption that neglectful or lazy parents are all poor, or addicts or council estate dwellers. Not so.