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

@Aria20

I'd love this to be introduced at my dd's nursery she hates brushing her teeth and it's a daily battle that might be eased if she saw all her friends doing theirs at the same time!

This really does help ime. Along with the fun song that many parents report back that their dc has taught/shown them. It's not always just a parenting problem but young dc frequently hate it until they see their peers enjoying it.

@rantymcrantface66 yep I've tried various songs/apps etc where you get points for brushing, timers etc diff flavour pastes, electric tooth brush, flashing toothbrush, character ones etc still daily battle!

I think toothbrushing in nursery is brilliant. I was sad it was stopped during covid but understand why.
My ds is 3 and brushes morning and night but I greatly appreciate the extra brush during the day.
How bizzare that anyone would object to more tooth care for their kids

Really don’t see the issue

You brush them at home. They brush extra at nursery

Cross contamination

What about all the toys they play /chew /lick

@Scottmichael tbf I have done this on some occasions (not in the night nappy!!) On the rare (as in twice ever) occasion hes slept in until we literally have to leave the house, I wake him, change his nappy and have dropped him off in pjs

I'd welcome our nursery doing this- I trust them with every other aspect of care and hygiene with my child, why would I have any worries specifically about teeth?! Presumably you send in a brush and toothpaste of your choice and they crack on.

DD naps and eats better at nursery so I've no doubt she would also do her teeth better- I have to have the argument with her and do them every night as she doesn't do them well herself, and hates it.

Bacterial colony growth succession on teeth is quite predictable and brushing teeth regularly makes it much more difficult for the really nasty ones to colonise and start to do damage so an extra brush during the day is a helpful thing.

[quote QforCucumber]@Scottmichael tbf I have done this on some occasions (not in the night nappy!!) On the rare (as in twice ever) occasion hes slept in until we literally have to leave the house, I wake him, change his nappy and have dropped him off in pjs[/quote]
You're taking a layer off to change the nappy - why not replace with a clean one. Doesn't take any extra time.

I think the issue here is that OP is taking it as a personal judgement on herself as if she doesn't brush her DC's teeth herself, which obviously isn't the case we know plenty parents ensure it's done properly but just as many don't or as some other posters have stated, their dc are very resistant so hard to do properly but will join in happily with their peers (and sometimes then help for home time too). It's been explained how it's hygienic and how the cross contamination is avoided which doesn't seem to make a difference to her stance even though it was raised as the problem initially.

Interesting, I hadn't heard this. Would have been really good for my eldest who hated teeth brushing. My youngest actually seems to quite like it so not so worried about her, although I suppose an extra time per day can't hurt.

Any chance they're going to introduce nail trimming at nursery?! Because that's something I could really use I've on occasion had to resort to doing them when my youngest is asleep

Any chance they're going to introduce nail trimming at nursery?! Because that's something I could really use I've on occasion had to resort to doing them when my youngest is asleep

That would be great tbh. The 1:1 dc I worked with last year was a scratcher but mum frequently didn't do her nails. Often looked like I'd had a run in with Freddy Krueger 😆

@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 🤯🤢

... that's bonkers.

I mean...you presumably kiss your husband etc?

@Pinkpepper79

You all have your own toothpaste, that's just odd! Never heard of such a thing. Managed to get to 50 sharing myself without issues

To be fair although it's normal to all dab your toothbrushes on the toothpaste in your house. (Don't know anyone in real life who doesn't do this), It would be unhygienic for 40 dc from different households all doing it daily - which is why it doesn't happen so that concern can be taken out.

@rantymcrantface66

Any chance they're going to introduce nail trimming at nursery?! Because that's something I could really use I've on occasion had to resort to doing them when my youngest is asleep

That would be great tbh. The 1:1 dc I worked with last year was a scratcher but mum frequently didn't do her nails. Often looked like I'd had a run in with Freddy Krueger 😆

My dd's first nursery did nail clipping but her current one doesn't. Thankfully she's really good when I do her nails

When I worked in a toddler room I used to clip the nails of one of my key children - his mum and dad said he would flail around screaming if they did it at home, but he was absolutely fine doing it at nursery! Same with teeth brushing for a lot of kids, the different environment, plus they see everyone else doing something and think oh I see, we’re doing this.

We're a school nursery so probably different. I imagine private have more scope for things like nail clipping

I think it's a great idea.

This has been happening in Scotland for years, my eldest is 10 and teeth brushing was a thing in nursery then. It is run by childsmile with training for staff and stringent hygiene measures, all materials provided by the health board so we're the correct brushes and toothpaste for age and stage .

Surely it can only be a good thing to educate children about good oral health and make it a fun part of daily routines 🤯.

I used to work in a nursery and we brushed teeth after lunch because it was an area where there is apparently less fluoride in the water and a high number of children in that county had tooth decay. The toothbrushes were all kept in their own toothbrush holders to prevent cross contamination. It was a pain in the arse and just another box ticking exercise. I think you're making a mountain out of a mole hill, but if you don't want your child to do it, just say no. Worst thing that can happen is they think you're a bit nuts.

So are you going to stop them changing their nappy and cleaning their bums too?

Wow, what a batshit perspective.

Schools and early years settings have been doing this for years in Scotland. It is expected in addition to the brushing you are doing at home; like others have pointed out, some children might not be receiving that.

DD2 loved brushing her teeth when younger, seeing the toothbrush bus come out was the highlight of her time at school. I wish she was so keen now, but sadly they slightly tweaked the formula of the toothpaste

@SeasonFinale

So are you going to stop them changing their nappy and cleaning their bums too?

Only if she already does that at home! If not, they're good to go! 👍

We had to clean our teeth when I was at nursery in the 90s, I remember thinking it was weird then as a 3 year old 😄 no-one I know brushes their teeth during the working day. Plus I had to keep my toothbrush in my favourite cup with a farmyard motif which I would rather have kept at home 😁

I hope my nursery does this soon . I think it’s great ! We brush twice a day but no harm if nursery do too !

Over a quarter of under 5s have tooth decay. According to our dentist, he routinely refers children to hospital to have multiple teeth removed under anaesthetic. And we live in a relatively affluent area.

Covid will have made this worse since many NHS dentists have a backlog of routine and children's check-ups and many young children (if they actually visit the dentist at all) won't have been seen by a dentist in over 18 months.

This is a small step in the right direction, although there is a lot to be said for returning to children's dental check-ups in schools (and ideally nurseries too). Catch it early and you can save children from a lifetime of oral health problems.

If you want to see the consequences of a non-interventionist, low-resourced approach, look at the stories of people removing their own teeth because they're in complete agony and the NHS won't help. Anything that will contribute to helping this generation of children avoid this has to be worth trying.

I used to work in a dental practice and part of our safeguarding was to spot and report children who had unusually unclean teeth; at the end of the day failing to provide this one basic hygiene rule to children is neglect and it happens more often than you would think OP. If the nursery are taking precautions to help and avoid children have painful and potentially life changing tooth decay then good on them.