Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To brush my five year olds teeth for her?

35 replies

skipps · 17/05/2026 18:40

I don’t trust that she’ll do it properly otherwise. Especially the backs

AIBU?

OP posts:
DysmalRadius · 17/05/2026 19:36

My dentist said that I should brush my kids' teeth until I'd be happy for them to brush mine so I did it for quite a while, although they've done it themselves from as soon as they were old enough with me checking.

TBF though, if I was discussing it, I'd say call it 'brushing their teeth' even if I was checking it, so maybe they are just imprecise rather than guilty of dental neglect.

VIII · 17/05/2026 19:38

Well as you've seen from this thread. It's all your friends who are the odd ones in this situation. Hopefully they are not sitting complaining in a few years time that their children need dental work because they trusted them to brush their own teeth since they were not much more than toddlers.

whensmynexthol1day · 17/05/2026 19:40

we did my son’s up until 10 and with my daughter 8 we do evenings and she does the morning. The dentist certainly expected we would be doing my son’s until this most recent appointment where she said that he was no doubt doing his own by now so I’m happy we’ve done the right thing.
it’s a bit like car seats though - mine have been in proper high back boosters way longer than their friends have. But they know that I don’t care what their friends are doing- we do what the guidelines/ professions say!

PeatandDieselfan · 17/05/2026 19:42

The advice from the school dentist where we are is that you should brush your childrens' teeth for them until age 7 because they are unlikely to have the manual dexterity to manage before then. So I did.

Youngest is 7 now, I still brush his teeth in the evening, but he has started doing it himself in the morning. When I think he's got the hang of it, I 'll let him do the evening one... But he has to learn first, so a gradual handover makes sense!

Greenwriter76 · 17/05/2026 19:45

YANBU - my daughter’s dentist advised I should still be brushing her teeth at 6. I’m still doing it at 7 but let her do the morning brush on her own and I do the evening brush

coastersgalore · 17/05/2026 19:49

As a rule of thumb ( dentist here) I advise to keep brushing your kids teeth until they’ve mastered tying their shoelaces, so usually @8or 9. Even then, I’d say let them brush then you check it afterwards and finish off the job. I occasionally still brush my 12 year olds teeth

BigOldBlobsy · 17/05/2026 19:59

I do my 5yo DCs and dentist advised to do this up to 7 generally as so many children are not brushing properly or being overseen

Whyamiherenow · 18/05/2026 18:02

I have a sibling who is 4 years younger than me. My dad re brushed our teeth at night (only) until we finished primary school. I am 42 with no fillings and no dental work.

BertieBotts · 18/05/2026 18:06

YANBU. The rule taught in German dentist school is that the child must be able to write a full sentence in joined-up writing before they should be allowed to brush their teeth alone. The reasoning is that the skills behind both are the same - they need manual dexterity to manage it and also the patience/attention span to get every part of the teeth without just vaguely swishing the brush at the harder to reach parts.

They say yes definitely encourage them to do it but have a second go over yourself afterwards.

Bitzee · 18/05/2026 18:12

I think 6.5-7 is about right to introduce closely supervised independent brushing, dentists usually advise that you brush them until age 7 and by the time they start sleepovers, brownie camps, school residentials (7-8 for us) I’d want them to be able to do a decent job themselves. So I wouldn’t personally continue always doing it for them any older than that. But totally normal and in their best interests to brush a 5YOs teeth! They just don’t have the coordination to do it themselves.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread