or just a bit arsey in wanting to correct misinformation in son's homework re toothbrushing?

[jasper]

Ds has as part of his homework

Rearrange the following in order.

1)Rinse your mouth with water and spit
2)Put toothpaste on brush
3)Brush teeth up and down

Now apart from being ridiculously simple for nine year olds the issue I have is with the instruction to rinse your mouth.
For maximun effect you should NOT rinse your mouth, especially before bedtime.

I was tempted to write a note to this effect but my 9 yo effectivey told me not to embarrass him , and to get a life.

Your comments please

We heard ya the first time smug

I haven't read all the replies, but I do know that you're not supposed to brush teeth up and down as that can wear away the gum. You're supposed to gently brush in a circular or downward motion with a soft brush to avoid damaging the teeth and gums.

Our dentist recommended the Philips Sonicare toothbrush, which I was then given for Christmas and love. It really does do a good job and I feel like I've been for a professional cleaning every time I use it (before you ask, I don't work for Philips!). It's great if you're inclined to be lazy, as it does all the work for you - no circular or up/down motion required by the user

Our children still use normal toothbrushes and our dentist has shown them how to brush properly (before that, I never knew about the circular motion brushing technique).

I admit to rinsing with water, though, as I don't like the toothpaste feeling left in my mouth!

I would probably say something to your son's teacher (perhaps it would help to have a note from your dentist as back up?).

Does it make me a bad person that I don't really care how one is 'supposed' to brush teeth? I mean, really, there are more important things to worry about in the grand scheme of things than standing in front of the bathroom mirror last thing at night and being gripped with panic because you're brushing up and down.

(Not aimed at you Louise2004! Your post just got me thinking, that's all )

There's a point there cyteen, however, if we all concentrate on stuff like this the chances of us all buggering off to town to lob grapefruit is lessened

I agree it doesn't make you a bad person, cyteen, and no offence is taken

My point would be that if you've got (or develop) bad teeth or gums, you're probably going to regret not having taken good care of them properly from the start. My teeth are fine, thank goodness, but my dh has tremendous problems that probably stem from him never cleaning his teeth as a child, which he's now paying for (both in pain and in cash!)

brshes up and down also wrong, should be circular

You're not supposed to rinse?

You have to keep that disgusting minty stuff in your gob?

Not all of it, you can spit, just don't rinse the rest out

But.. but..the taste...

[vom]

The no-rinsing is completely news to me!
Sorry to hijack but, while we're on the suject of rinsing, why don't so many people rinse when doing the washing up? Why is it only a british thing?

Puppy I am a dentist

Yuk yuk yuk to keeing the toothpaste in your mouth. Ugghhh . I hate the stuff and rinse so I can get rid of the taste.

Sorry to hijack, but as you are a real dentist, I would just like to ask you about Amelogenesis Imperfecta. Our new dentist said DD may have it, and is getting her teeth sealed next week. I looked it up online and it looked so awful I cried, can you recommend somewhere non-scary to look it up, or is it as terrible as it looks?

Rach please tell me abit about your daughter. Her age, how her teeth look etc x

Thanks, Jasper. She is 6, and her back teeth have been prone to holes and erosion. They are not in good shape and need fillings and are discoloured. Her front ones look OK, but are very new. She is a bit gappy at the moment, but the ones that have come out did so naturally and new ones have been coming through fine. When I was about 8, I had 6 back teeth removed due to them being very holey and eroded, but have had no problems since (1 filling after DD2). DD2 has beautiful pearly whites, totally perfect (touch wood) Our old dentist must have been a bit slack, as I did ask him a few times, but he said he would just monitor them, and I found out after that he never wrote anything on their records, not even that he had seen them!

Does she have her back adult molars do you know? ( they come in right behind the baby teeth without any baby ones falling out first). What do they look like? Any yellow mottling?

Are her front teeth her adult teeth?

Yep, her adult molars are the ones not looking too good. Her front ones are adult ones. There doesn't seem to be any mottling though. Thanks for this. I love Mumsnet.

Isn't mouthwash supposed to increase the risk of oral cancer? Something to do with the alcohol content, I thought.

Hi Jasper, I've got some gengigel to try and speed up the recovery of my 3 sensitive teeth.

I scrubbed them horizontally and hard with whitening toothpaste for years. Now i've managed to expose a tiny bit of the dentine on 3 of them and it was ridiculously painful.

Anyway, I'm now using an electric toothbrush (gently! - no scrubbing) and Sensodyne Pronamel. Am I ok to use the gengigel after brushing or should I use that at a different time of day?
After using the gengigel, I put a dab of the Pronamel on the tooth/gum line where it hurts. It's a lot better that it was last week, but I'm now a little worried that the gengigel is undoing the work of the Pronamel.

If you can be bothered to answer this terribly phrased question I would very much appreciate it!!

I think the pint of washing your mouth out (or a childs anyway) is that swallowing too much flouride can be harmfull. I always rince out my mouth after brushing but thats because toothpaste is foul!

Rach obviously |I can't say without seeing your daughter but this does NOT sound like OI.

it sounds like a minor problem with the enamel on her adult first molars ONLY. ( her current back teeth)This is VERY common. My first child ( now 9) has this.

the enamel on these is forming around birth and can be disrupted my late stage pregnancy problems in the mum or some evidence suggests even a traumatic birth.They are the first adult teeth to form and if any ones that erupt later look ok, the rest should be fine.

If her front teeth look fine all her subsequent teeth should be ok too.

Again can't say without seeing her but the term OI gets inappropriately bandied about and as you will have seen from googling it is a quite specific condition

To prevent ingestion of too much fluoride only a small smear of toothpaste ( 1000 ppm) should be used. Even if this whole amount was swallowed twice a day it is well below the limit that would cause fluorosis.

Toothbrushing ONLY works (to prevent decay) as a means of applying fluoride to the teeth

cyteen I totally agree.
I always say brush any damn way you like as long as you brush!

If you are concerned with the minuteae of technique chances are you are VERY well informed, highly motivated and with a very low risk of decay!

Louise 2004 I am a dentist and my kids' teachers know that
They keep asking me to give talks

Jasper, what you have said makes perfect sense. It may have been the new dentist trying to make her mark. I wish you were our dentist in RL. Funnily enough (although not at the time) she was venteuse born, as her heart rate dipped, which I think would have been pretty traumatic. I think they need sealing still, so shall go ahead with that, but if the dentist gets a bit carried away and starts suggesting crowns etc., I shall insist on a second opinion. Thank you so much for your help. Rach x.

Rach I almost asked if it was a new young dentist!

I had a somewhat traumatic birth with my first ( the one with the funny back teeth)

The wonderful professor of children's dentistry at Glasgow Uni was very reassuring .

Th other thing to remember is that the first molars are actually quite "disposable" . If they are completely shot, if extracted at about age 8 you usually get beautiful alignment of all teeth with NO wisdom tooth problems in later life.

In fact extraction of all first molars at age 8 or 9 was a recognised (if a bit drastic!) prophylactic measure in decay prone kids which virtually eliminated any orthodontic problems , back in the olden days when I graduated ( 1989)