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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Cleaning teeth - or NOT!!

37 replies

LizzyBott · 20/02/2005 19:39

Can anyone help with any useful ways of getting an 18 month old, determined little girl, to clean her teeth properly (ish) as at the moment all she will do is suck of the paste and eat/discard the brush. STRICTLY NO HELP ALLOWED!!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

braid · 21/02/2005 12:41

My dd 20 months is pretty resistant too. For a while she was interested in my electric toothbrush and that distracted her enough for me to have a chance with her teeth. But she's bored of that now and my latest trick is to stand her on a little ledge in front of our bathroom mirror and brush her teeth with me standing behind her. She's co-operating a lot more and likes to watch what is happening.

RTKangaMummy · 21/02/2005 12:42

disclosing tablets for older children

Newbarnsleygirl · 21/02/2005 12:43

I was told by my Hv who was told by a dentist that it does'nt really matter so much about scrubbing the teeth as long as the toothpaste touches the teeth for the flouride. You can even rub it on with your fingers or a cloth.

The reason for it is that children up to the age of three clean their teeth with their tongue but for some reason after the age of 3 this stops.

I was told to watch out for my dd doing this and she did. She made funny faces whilst doing it and looked like she was chewing gum.

rogan2001 · 21/02/2005 22:10

my son 3 yrs would just suck the toothpaste off and refused to let me do his teeth, so i got him a racing car shaped toothbrush and i pretend we're driving the car/toothbrush round the track/his teeth and give them a good scrub lots of brumming sounds and great fun.

Levanna · 22/02/2005 00:39

With DD1 we made a game of tickling. DD1 loves being tickled, so I'd tickle her feet, tickle her tummy, grab the toothbrush and 'tickle' her teeth (her mouth would happen to be wide open from laughing at this stage ), she loved it! Like Melsy, later on we found a set with one brush with a parent extension, so we could do them together (made by MAM, IIRC).

Branster · 22/02/2005 00:50

there was a similar thread a while back and someone (I wish I remembred who) said they play a game with thir children: 'let's see who' in your mouth today! Oooh, look, ther's Bob the buildder! let's brush him out. And who's that running behind him? It's Scoop! Let's brush him out too!' etc etc. well, the post had a different story line but basicaly it's a game. It proved invaluable with my DD and she loves this game, always making up who's in her mouth (like two boats chasing each other etc). Otherwise I tell her that her teeth will fall out if we don't brush them properly and then she won't be able to eat anything and it does the trick everytime, she even asks me to make sure they've been brushed properly.

FairyMum · 22/02/2005 07:21

I have to admit about being really neurotic about brushing my children's teeth, because I had lots of fillings as a child and I want to avoid that. Even if children don't eat much sweets, there are other things which is bad for the teeth, even apples are quite acidic.
I have tried all the tricks in the book with mine and nothing has really worked, so in the end I have just forced-brushed them. I sit on top of them and brush. It is the one thing I do not compromise at all on and now they are older, they know that they can't get away from it.

mumeeee · 22/02/2005 10:44

I was told by the dentist that you should clean childrens teeth for them until they are 7 as they dont have the co-ordination to do them properly untill then. I used to let my children have a go then finish them off. Lizzybott would your little girllet tou do this?
My 13 year old DD still has trouble getting her teeth clean as she is dyspraxic. The dentist has suggested geting some disclosing tablets for her as obviusly she feels that she is to old to have help.

Original poster

LizzyBott · 26/02/2005 17:34

Thanks all - I very evidently don't suffer alone - and some very good tips.
will p
As she is probably the vainest person in the world, watching herself in the mirror seems to do quite well.

I will persevere and hopefully all will fall into place!

Many thanks

LizzyB

OP posts:

Niddlynono · 26/02/2005 18:44

DS and I have an electric toothbrush each and we brush our teeth together while humming his favourite songs and generally goofing around.
We also have a dinasaur egg timer thing which is quite good at motivating him although it lasts bloody ages, even for me.
Good luck!

morningpaper · 26/02/2005 19:02

I have three techniques:

Saying I will sing any song requested. "You choose a song and I'll sing it as I brush your teeth."
Saying "What's in your teeth tonight?" and saying "Bleaugh, sausages in the back ones!" as I brush.
Pin to floor.

KarenThirl · 27/02/2005 17:26

My ds had a toothbrush in his hand from six months and I always encouraged him to brush his own teeth. He's now six and still can't do it by himself. I believe dentists advise that children below the age of seven shouldn't be trusted to do a good job by themselves and should always have an adult supervising and starting or finishing off.

I've tried all the usual stuff of fancy toothbrushes (he has an electric one now), and even threatened that they'll all rot and he'll have to eat soup for the rest of his life (what a bitch), all without joy. So sorry, can't help!

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