Teeth cleaning in nursery

[Pinkpepper79]

Does your child clean their teeth at nursery? As of September my child's nursery is going to be cleaning their teeth. Surely that is my responsibility as a parent. Teeth cleaning is a little activity I like to do an make it fun. I don't want a paid member of staff taking on that role. There is no opt out option. New government guidelines or something

@rantymcrantface66
Training of the new guidelines is required for thoes who think doing it for parents mid day, after meals, too late after getting up, not providing support to parent to understand good hygiene but taking the job off them so that once child moves to next stage no body is brushing their teeth....is ticking a box it isn't.
The requirement is not intended for settings to do the teeth brushing or supervision as a regular thing but to educate child and parents in current dentist recommended guidelines if you think brushing the teeth ticks thr box you will fail the guidelines.....its diet, education in recommendations giving ideas to parents that will help them brush teeth at the recommended time etc. As an assessor and practitioner I've already done the training both pre this latest inclusion and now I've sat in on Ofsted discussions on new inspections etc.
The parent also does have the right to say no to you physically brushing their child's teeth and you must respect that it is not a necessary function for childs wellbeing after raising from bed or going to bed at night....if they sleep with you it is.

At DDs nursery they each had their own toothbrush with their names on which were stored in a little rack. At tooth brushing time one of the nursery staff would put a load of blobs of toothpaste on a paper plate, the child would then use their toothbrush to scoop up a blob and they would brush teeth to a song.

'Brush brush brush your teeth every morning every night, take a brush and add some paste, brush your teeth without any haste. Brush them up, brush them down, move the brush, round and round. The secret to, having healthy teeth, is to simply brush every tooth.'

It didn't replace brushing at home, just added another go round.

I can't see this as a bad thing in any way as it's a harmless activity for those who are being taught good dental hygiene and an opportunity to teach those who aren't.

cross contamination of toothpaste

Well I must admit when my OH had a vomiting bug last week I made him not touch the end of his toothbrush on our toothpaste!!!

We all have our own toothpaste in my house. It is well documented that the mouth is full of bacteria. I am shocked that people all share 🤯🤢

A nursery I worked in did this. All children’s toothbrushes were kept in a plastic thing in their own little drawer. Maybe you brush your kids teeth, but some parents don’t, and I think it’s great that these kids are having the opportunity to learn how to do it.

As for toothpaste cross contamination, you are aware that you squeeze the paste onto the brush and then use the brush to clean your teeth? You don’t suck the toothpaste out of the tube directly.

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The mouth is really not a pleasant place hence why you should always seek medical advice if your child is bitten and the skin is broken

We sang the Barney song at my nursery - brushing my teeth at the bottom, wouldn’t wanna say I forgot them, brushing my teeth at the back, gotta get rid of all the plaque!

We've been doing toothbrushing in nursery for about 10 years.

Child smile is our programme, they regularly send out toothbrushes and toothpaste home. They also come in every 3 months and change the brushes. They leave a huge list of cleaning procedures for them. We put dots of toothpaste on a paper towel and the child takes their brush and puts the toothpaste on themselves.

However they haven't turned up in Covid. So we didn't do it last year. But it helped a lot of children who wouldn't toothbrush or ones in very deprived areas start to brush their teeth. It's just part of our routine.

You’re shocked that people don’t have individual toothpaste? Really? I’m shocked that you do!

When did everyone get so precious about everything? Surely teaching children that brushing teeth is part of their daily routine is a good thing? Yes, most parents encourage this but many don’t.I have taught reception children with totally decayed baby teeth through being given bottles of sweet drink to suck at and not a toothbrush in the house. It’s hard enough for a child to have hopeless parents but surely the education system should be helping to level out the inequalities without the advantaged whinging on about contamination and erosion of parental rights.

My children cleaned their teeth at nursery and they are now 13 and 9 so nothing new in this.

It's a good thing OP.

I'd happily let them do this. Teeth cleaning is a battle in my house with my DC but he'd probably do it perfectly at nursery.

Eh? It's not INSTEAD of you doing it? It's in addition to. Our school works with Childsmile who give out free toothpastes and toothbrushes to nursery and primary kids to encourage good dental care habits such as regular brushing and brushing correctly. Something which mot all parents do.

@Pinkpepper79

We all have our own toothpaste in my house. It is well documented that the mouth is full of bacteria. I am shocked that people all share 🤯🤢

You don't have to touch the tube on the brush though? Surely that's the only way bacteria will "cross contaminate"

Complete non issue.
Do what you do and they will do them again at nursery.

My husbands niece had 8 rotten teeth removed at three years old. Her mum kicked off when they tried to show her how to brush children's teeth. She tried to get me on her side saying "I'm no waking my poor wean up when she's fallen asleep! My wean needs to sleep!" "Isn't it terrible them saying that?!"
The kid didn't have a bed time and fell asleep on the sofa every night and was transferred to bed. All I could say was a polite, "I'm sorry but I don't think they're wrong here".

In my house we all ::shock horror:: share a toothpaste tube and my children's teeth are absolutely perfect. The only issue is that the baby teeth are lovely and healthy and reluctant to leave Even my 14 year old still has a couple of baby teeth nice and cosy, refusing to move out but the dentist is perfectly okay with it.

You send your child to nursery and your worried about germs spreading cleaning teeth. It is widely know kids full stop are walking germ carriers. I am assuming if you are freaking out at sharing toothbrushes or toothpaste that you what never kiss you child?

@jannier but you have no idea that all this guidance won't also be happening alongside the tooth brushing. Just because a setting doesn't HAVE to include tooth brushing doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't and there are plenty ways to incorporate it safely and hygienically within a setting as has been happening in Scotland for many years. I did a placement back in 1999 and it was well established then. I actually had no idea it wasn't the norm UK wide.

Of course the parent has a right to refuse you physically brushing their teeth but that is not what happens. They brush their own teeth and I've never known a parent to object because, really, why would you?!

Always been done at nursery at lunchtime here. Only paused due to covid. Couldn’t get het up about it tbh.

Bloody hell, what a non issue!

You will still have to clean your child’s teeth! It’s an extra brushing, not instead of parents doing it. Great idea.

We have this in Scotland. It's a programme called Childsmile and nursery staff are "trained" in toothbrushing by a dental nurse qualified in Childsmile. There's no cross contamination, it's a great system. Yes, there were too many families not brushing their children's teeth at home. You can tell who brushes at home and who doesn't. Children are supported to become independent in brushing so they can still do it at home when they're too old for the programme. Childsmile also come out and put fluoride varnish on their teeth. You do have to give consent here though.

Our nursery does this (or did before Covid - not sure if they still do). I’m all in favour for an extra teeth clean

@Noterook

Schools and nurseries seem to be taking on more and more of basic parental responsibility tasks, won't be long until they're getting them dressed in the morning. It won't harm to do teeth again during the day, but I would keep the routine at home as a priority so it's consistent when they aren't at nursery.

I've had parents in the past who drop their children off in pyjamas (and night nappy 😦) with clothes in their bag for us to get them dressed.

I work in a nursery, children in the older rooms so from about 2.5 used to clean their teeth after breakfast. The toothbrushes were taken away when covid started but I'm sure they'll be back from September with the new EYFS guidance.