Brushing baby teeth

[Mil]

Sorry if I sound dense but not sure how to clean my 9mth ds's two teeth! We don't live in UK and the pharmacy here has never heard of baby toothbrushes or toothpaste! Should I get a bit of finger gauze and rub his teeth with our toothpaste?

In the UK you get specially formulated toothpaste suitable for children and babies with a lower flouride content and less intense flavour along with extra small and soft brushes. I would ask your health visitor what they recommend before using your own brand.

At that age I didn't bother with toothpaste and just wiped the teeth with dampened cotton wool or a cotton wool bud. HTH.

Thanks for the advice. Perhaps I'll just wipe his teeth with cotton wool for now and buy the specially formulated toothpaste when we return to the UK in a couple of months. We live in Mauritius - idyllic paradise island but you can't buy much stuff for babies or get decent advice as there are no such things as Health Visitors so thank God for this site!!!

Current thinking is that the fluoride concentration in adult toothpaste is best for kids too. The low fluoride kids' toothpastes are unnecessary . The only problem as stripeymouse says is adult pastes tend to be very strongly minty flavoured.

jasper does that advice apply even in fluoridated water areas?

My son loves the aloe vera toothpaste we use (now 17 months). And someone suggested using a muslin to clean his teeth before getting a brush - cottonwool might leave bits in his mouth?

I'm in the US, and we have a little rubber finger tip w/ little rubber bristles on one side. Don't know if they're any good, but I used them in the beginning w/ DD. I now use a baby toothbrush, but DD now has 8 teeth. We also use the fruit-flavored baby paste.

Yes Elliot it does, with the usual advice not to give them free access to the toothpaste tube but to apply just a small smear for them. The beneficial effect of fluoride in toothpaste is that it hardens up the surface of the tooth by virtue of repeated application.
Fluoride in water helps harden the teeth from the inside out as it were, as they are being formed.
Also, spit but don't rinse.
The two my kids like the taste of are Punch and Judy (optimum fluoride concentration of around 1 part per million)and Boots applemint, but it only has half the recommended fluoride concentration.( it has xtlitol too)

My DS 17 months has been refusing to let us brush his teeth for some time now. He used to do a little himself and then let us help him. Now he wont even open his mouth if he sees a tooth brush. What should i do?

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Mil - I'd be willing to fly over with a couple of years supply - would just need a ticket and a few weeks accomodation in return.......

Just to second Jasper: both paediatric dentists that my eldest son has had have recommended exactly the same thing. It's not an adult dose, but just a bit - and then just spit, no rinsing necessary. Fluorosis occurs when the child ingests a large amount of toothpaste or far too much over a long period (the latter the most likely reason). Just fyi, if your 2 yo eats say, a quarter of a tube of adult toothpaste, it's recommended that the child drink a heaping big glass of milk (the calcium will precipitate out the fluoride). What you have to imagine is me panicking and yelling "But he's allergic to milk! He's ALLERGIC TO MILK!" and the nice boy on the phone saying that anything with calcium will do. "Have you got a Tums, ma'am?" I guess it was the way he said it. Funny looking back on it....

Robin w they are behind the times, or assuming lack of cooperation/competence of the parent in keeping the tube out of reach.
I go to every paediatric dentistry course I can and this is the current guideline. Non fluoride toothpastes do not reduce decay ( with the exception of smooth surface decay). Low fluoride toothpastes reduce decay less than toothpastes with optimum concentration (around 1000 ppm)

Yes, eating from the toothpaste tube can cause fluorosis,(it's THE cause of fluorosis) that's why I always stress kids don't get free access to the paste but that it is dispensed by a parent or carer.

I guess that I have to admit that I'm not very competent. And that Jasper's advice has led me to the great teeth I have now.. see ooh, alright. You can click on the lovely toothy face to see.

Oh hey, our posts aren't at odds. Just realized that. Still psyched about the linky proud face.

yes JJ, how well I remember my first smiley...but hey, a linky smiley, now that's impressive.
I see it's about a year since you got your teeth whitened. Are they still as sparky white?

( better watch - we might get kicked out onto the chat threads)

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They aren't still as sparkly. I drank black coffee for a number of months and still drink red wine. And she told me and we had a plan. So I knew what I was getting into. Looking forward to trying those new US bleaching strips though (maybe Crest? maybe Colgate? maybe neither?).

Just have to mention that one crowned tooth is from hell. It's cracked twice and broken off once. As everyone has told me, that will happen.. damn physics and all (I'm certainly willing to believe it it's the tilt, which is the same as should be but not as strong as my real tooth which very much needed to be replaced, I think). Anyway, what do you think of the screws? That's the next step, my dentist (it wasn't his post that failed) tells me, if it happens again. He did such a good job. Very last minute the ceramic post cracked. (Just for all those wondering, it had nothing to do with the bleaching. That is amazing. Do it. Be amazed.)

must.... not.... babble.....
(although it shows off my teeth)

Jasper/robinw, should you worry about your child ingesting small amounts of low flouride toothpaste each day? I apply a very small smear of child toothpaste to the brush (far less than the pea size recommended) and try to encourage dd to spit, but I'm sure she swallows most of it. Is she likely to get fluorosis? How much is too much on a daily basis??

Oh goodness.. it can't be only me that's had a child eat toothpaste?

Yes, behind the times. I can only repeat my last post and say I go to every Paedodontic course on the planet (almost).
"they tend to be a bit ahead of British dentists"
Sorry, don't agree with this.Neither would my friend and colleague who is the professor of child dental health at the best Dental school in the country .
I don't get your slant at all. You are on the one hand ( again) knocking some dentists for not catching onto the benefits of xylitol but refusing to believe the most up to date info on Fluoride.
And yes, kids eating toothpaste is VERY common.
Caroline5 I don't think you should worry , sounds like you are well within safe limits

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No I don't think the Eastman is the best in the land
Yes I have heard the Gprotein activator stuff, not impressed with the "evidence" so far.One drug compay is pushing it so they can sell a product they have developed to counteract the alleged gingivitis causing properties of fluoride in toothpaste.

"it's no wonder British dentists are so far behind the times"
Have to agree to disagree.

My most recent info came from a conference last month.How recent is yours?

Mils original query was what to do about lack of baby toothpaste, and is is safe to use adult paste.

The answer is yes, it is not only safe, it is the current most up to the minute recommended guideline.
I am NOT a world authority on child dental health but I am in touch with those who are and am happy to report what they are currently saying.
You can choose to disagree with them if you like.

I was interested in JJ's comments about the calcium precipitating out the fluoride. I had been quite happily putting ds's fluoride drops (7 drops every second day - ie a half dose, as recommended by my dentist) into ds's morning milk. Does this mean he's been getting no benefit from it?!