Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

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

Flip

Original poster

He won't let me clean his teeth!

16 replies

AnnaK · 14/06/2005 08:03

Ds never liked me cleaning his teeth though I have tried to do it twice a day ever since the first came through at 7 months. However, when a back tooth came through last month and I tried to reach that one, he just closed his mouth and that was it. He is 15 months and I am very concerned about his teeth, even though he never has sweets or much sweet stuff generally. He is also sick quite often which does harm too.
Any advice on how to tackle this would be greatly appreciated.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

TracyK · 14/06/2005 08:08

have you tried the finger toothbrush - a lot softer. Also does he see you doing yours - mine always wants to chew my tbrush after I've finished which i spose helps too.

Fran1 · 14/06/2005 08:09

Even if you can manage to get the blob of toothpaste in the mouth, i was advised by a dentist that that is sufficient in young children.

For a long time i have had to let my dd do it herself (prob since she was a similar age to your son) cos she clamped her mouth shut when i went near her. I have a big window sill in my bathroom and i find it useful sitting her up there cos then she can't run away!
Have you tried the buying special toothbrushes etc?

Just recently i had a pack of cheap adult toothbrushes that me and dp didn't like. I decided to offer one to dd telling her it was daddy's special one, she decided she liked all three-now its easy cos i say to her lets go and choose which toothbrush we'll use today, and she falls for it every time! Depends on her mood whether she does it herself or lets me do it, i'd say at least every other day i get to give them a good clean.

Furball · 14/06/2005 08:48

Couple of tips I picked up from here is to let them have your toothbrush and do your teeth (keep you teeth closed though, otherwise they ram it down your throat!) whilst your doing theirs and also if your child has favourite characters (easy in our case as Thomas the tank and loads of different ones) used to say, oh look theres Percy right at the very back all covered in oil, lets give him a clean. Both worked wonders.

katierocket · 14/06/2005 08:51

very very very very common (search on here and you'll find loads of similar threads). Personally we tried all the singing songs, different toothbrushes etc but in the end we just cleaned them whether he screamed or not (dentist said this was the best thing to do). Might sound cruel but he protested for about 3 days and then was fine about it. Clean teeth more important than a tantrum IMO

Titania · 14/06/2005 08:55

stand in front of a mirror and pull faces while cleaning yout teeth....they laugh so much they forget about cleaning their teeth!!

Davros · 14/06/2005 09:30

I get DD out of the bath and swaddle her in a towel with her arms down. She thrashes a bit but the screaming means I can get into the mouth and its all over in a minute. I might try some of these ideas too as she gets older...

MandM · 14/06/2005 09:40

Let Daddy do it!!! My dd clamps her mouth firmly shut the minute I mention the word 'toothbrush'. BUT, when Daddy asks her if she's ready to have her teeth brushed, she sits down nicely, opens her mouth as wide as she can, puts her head back and doesn't move until every tooth has been thoroughly cleaned.

I suppose I should be jealous, but, hey, if it's one less job for me to do.....

loujay · 14/06/2005 09:42

Hi, We have a sponge hand puppet in the form of a penguin that our DD loves and so she will let "MR Penguin" clean her teeth!!
Its a bit of a faff but ut works

Chuffed · 14/06/2005 09:45

dd always cleans her teeth with us. At the end of her cleaning we do one, two , three, four, five on the bottom and then the same on the top.

Lolasmum · 14/06/2005 10:32

We bought some kids toothpaste on holiday which had a picture of a crocodile on. We tell dd that little girls who don't clean their teeth get eaten by crocodiles! Am I cruel? Is anybody going to report me to the social services? The tactic does work though!

Original poster

AnnaK · 14/06/2005 13:08

Thanks everyone, I'll try some of these...

OP posts:

calpopscalum · 14/06/2005 20:32

We had this and I asked my desntist. he said as long as they weren't eating the really sugary jelly tyoe sweets a lot there shouldn't be a problem as it's very common but to keep trying! he didn't seem too worried. We then discovered toothbrushes that light up for the length of time you're menat to clean your teeth and they love those! I let them do their teeth themsleves for a while then told them that if mummy does it they get bubbles in their mouth so mummy is top brusher now!!! Persevere!

meggymoo · 14/06/2005 20:55

Message withdrawn

FairyMum · 14/06/2005 20:58

My Ds1 got a hole in his tooth at the tender age of 2 despite eating healhily and a lot of brushing. It's a nightmare! My advice is to do whatever it takes to brush. I sit on mine and force brush them while they scream, but I don't care. Much better than having to take them to the dentist.

lilaclotus · 14/06/2005 21:03

meggymoo's post made me think about the toothbrush i saw in tesco the other day. it's a normal kids toothbrush with flashing lights in the handle. you press the button and they flash for two minutes or so to show how long to brush the teeth. thought it was quite clever anyway and it might be good for kids who are scared of electric ones and still have something flashy...

TracyK · 15/06/2005 08:29

How's it going Annak - any improvement? I was thinking you could maybe give it rest from trying the toothbrush - say for a week and just go back to using a flannel for now. He may forget about not liking the toothbrush and let you do it again.

Flip