Rinsing after brushing teeth

[MammyShirl]

My dd is 18 mths and she (wont let me near) brushes her teeth twice a day but not properly. is how her how i do it and sometimes she gets the action right or i play a game and rollher in in the towel so her hands are by her side and i quickly brush them. i only dab the toothpaste on the brush. i want to use more toothpaste but dont want her to swallow it - at what age should she be rinsing and any tips on how to teach her to do this?

oops started two by mistake - just reply to this and ignore the other.

I remember my health visitor telling us at a talk on dental hygiene that there was no need to rinse teeth after brushing as it's good if a little bit of toothpaste stays on the teeth afterwards. In fact I've been told now that adults shouldn't actually rinse the toothpaste off their teeth either, but should only use a little bit of toothpaste (and a much tinier amount for infants).

Recently seen advice that if you only use a smear of toothpaste, you don't need to rinse. Believe there are one or two dentists on MN who might be able to confirm/deny this... Would be interested to know how much toothpaste to use as I never use anywhere near as much as a pea sized amount.

Also read thread recently where tip to encourage brushing was to talk about the food that had been eaten that day and pretend you could see bits in your child's mouth. Works an absolute treat on my ds who is 3 and fairly good at brushing/letting me brush but really enjoys this game and lets me brush for much longer when we play it.

spot on advice so far. No need to rinse, best if you don't but only use a small pea sized smear twice a day amd get them to spit if poss.

thanks for your great advice!

i have never used a pea size amount, i just smear a bit of paste on the brush and then she rinses the brush under the tap (her favourite bit) and brushes or bites it again.

mammyshirl I've always thought the "pea sized" advice was a bit odd myself. A small smear makes more sense if you ask me!