teethbrushing - when to start?

[beanlet]

Sorry if this is another dumb first-time mother question:

At what point do we start brushing DS's teeth? He has just had his first two come through together in the last week or so, but don't know whether we should start brushing them now, or wait until they are fully through the gums - or even until he has more teeth?

?

When I had my first DC I asked the same thing, beanlet. My HV said to start brushing as soon as the teeth come through. I didn't start as soon as they appeared though, I waited until they were almost fully through.

I started brushing as soon as they came through.

A dentist friend recommended doing it as soon as they come through as it helps the wee tooth come through the rest of the gum and it gets them used to getting their teeth brushed.

We had one of those wee brushes you put on your finger, they were great!

Us too, although the dentist that we used suggested brushing before any teeth arrived.
We used a little brush that went on your finger.
DD has gorgeous (thought muddled up) teeth.

Thank you all! I'm now off to find a finger brush....

For the first few teeth I just wrapped a clean muslin round a finger and wiped them down. We graduated to a toddler brush once they had about 8 teeth and biting was more of a hazard! They still need supervised brushing up until about 6 though

Was just about to ask this myself!!!....sorry to high jack your post
We have a finger brush but do we need "childrens" toothpaste?

Hijack away! Apparently dentists yesterday were advocating adult toothpaste, not childrens, but my DH reckons the amount of fluoride in adult toothpaste could be problematic for really little ones. Any dentists lurking?

I've heard about using an adult toothpaste too - especially if you live in an unfluoridated area (as we do). However my toothpaste has 1250ppm and the kids one 1100ppm, so not a massive difference. You shouldn't use a huge amount of toothpaste, especially if they are pre the spitting stage (which happens about 3.5 in my experience)

I've also heard you shouldn't rinse after spitting, that some fluoride left on the teeth is a good thing, and swallowing a little is OK too, for the body to absorb it. After all if the water is fluoridated then you are swallowing it.