worried about lack of tooth brushing - pls tell me your stories

[mummyox]

my ds almost 2 gets really upset if I try and clean his teeth so usually I just let him take the brush and so it himself.

He's not really very efficient at all and I am getting worried that he will end up with really bad teeth.

When he is older I am (perhaps naively ) assuming I can persuade him with star charts etc. But I just hope it is not too late.

Do any others have children who hardly ever brushed their teeth as toddlers and how did their teetch fair long term?
TIA

My DCs teeth cleaning is a bit random (5 & 3) and their breath smells a lot of the time. It's very embarrassing.

However, I took them to the dentist a couple of months ago for routine check up and he told me their teeth were fab.

well my son started boarding school last sept. I don't think he's brushed his teeth all this last term . but he had a dental check up about a month ago, and all is fine (for the moment) he did get through a bottle of mouthwash every 3 weeks though

Teeth and not up for negotiation in my house.. My kids are 2&5 and they get to do them first ,then I do it. Dd used to hate it getting done, but I kept at it, as really, it's not something you can just not do, and she is fine now. They both floss too and love to do it all.

tooth brushing is one of the very few things that are totally non-negotiable in our house.

i have awful teeth and there is no way i am letting my kids even risk having all the fillings I have.

if they get upset that's just tough, all 3 of them went through a phase I guess around 18m-2yrs of really fighting it and I just made them have it done. now they open up and let me do it and then they get a go after

I posted about this a few days ago!

After advice on here just to hold her down and scrub (as not worth risking teeth over), I have steeled myself to pin her down every other night. In between she has a good chew and a bit of a brush on her own. She is just 2 so I'm hoping it's a phase (sounds a common one!)

My ds is another for teeth clean resisting, I've found being far too dramatic enthusiastic and all wide eyed saying 'shhhh' 'listen' then brush the front of mine 'whats that noise?' brush again 'ds do it' then when he does, say 'no no like this' and i get about 10 seconds to get a good cleaning.. repeated till i'm happy. Failing that we become lions and 'rooooooaaaaaaaaaarrrrr' which gives me teeth access.

I really dont like pinning ds down(mainly because it highlights yet another reason i need to have at least 6 arms) but i do think it needs to be done.

I had to pin ds down a few times. Now we tell him that mummy or daddy brush first then he can have a go. He still fusses sometimes but he doesn't have a choice.

We also pin our 18 month old DS down to do them. I hate it, and he cries, but it is all done in 30 seconds and he forgives us. He will cry a lot more if he needs a filling and may not forgive so readily!

Every time we give him the chance to do it the nice way first, e.g. "look at mummy brushing her teeth, look at mummy brushing Daddy's teeth, DS do YOU want to have a go too?" "Shall we brush (insert name of toy)'s teeth?" That's all fine and keeps things relaxed - he'll then happily take the brush and put it in his mouth, but won't actually clean his teeth or allow us to move his hand up and down his gum. So unless he starts doing it properly there's no other option but the pinning down way.

I find the pinning them down works best, they scream which provides a lovely wide mouth for brushing, let them brush by themselves for a bit and 20 seconds later all is forgiven.

We used to have this problem with DSs. When they were around 2 and 4 yo.
So we showed them a photo like <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=baby+bottle+tooth+decay&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&rls=en&biw=1280&bih=680&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=Y9XxUbfCFikybM:&imgrefurl=vailvalleydentalcare.blogspot.com/2011/02/childrens-dental-health-month-tip-7.html&docid=I9ECKA1md8NaXM&imgurl=4.bp.blogspot.com/_ugAmu9TBM0o/TVC48_DpccI/AAAAAAAAAXo/lHCVlCyySs0/s1600/de7_baby_bottle_tooth_decay.jpg&w=400&h=311&ei=X9qNT8D8Goei8gOGqIi_Cw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=188&vpy=154&dur=958&hovh=198&hovw=255&tx=156&ty=129&sig=110829241678356723976&page=1&tbnh=148&tbnw=190&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:67" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this.
They begged us to brush their teeth every morning and night. And would cry if we didn't do it properly!

They are 7 and 5 now, and saw the dentist last week for check up. Teeth perfect. Dentist did say that she recommends parents brush their kids teeth until the kids are able to do joined up writing and tie their own shoes. We had been getting the kids to do their own teeth, so now we are back to doing them ourselves, and letting them "finish off".

I let DS do his (2.4) and when he starts just chomping his brush I put him on my lap and have a go. if he is being resistant i make up a song about animals and say something like 'and the lion brushing his teeth goes roar' and when he goes 'roar' back to me I pop in and brush away, then say ' and the mouse brushing his teeth goes squeak squeak' and he goes 'squeak' which opens up his front teeth to me! hehe! He is too busy making the noises and having a cudddle to bother about my brushing and I do it quickly.

this won't always work. I bribe him sometimes with playing with the tap once we have finished or just leave it if he is adamant. I couldn't wrestle with him to brush his teeth, it's just too physical and forceful for me but get why people have to if DCs are just adamant day after day.

good luck!

I think teeth can be easily suspepitble to problems and some teeth can withstand alot of abuse and are fine.

My teeth for instance have been subjct to alot of choclate eating when i was younger and I have no fillings or any problems at all i am 36.

I have a friend whose mouth just seems to be rotting, she has always upheld incredible dental hygene but they are just bad teeth.

My DD took a while to be accustomed to tooth brush, when young found it best to do when I could, i did not stress or push it it anyway.

sometimes she went a aweek without a brush.

Dentist said her teeth are perfect.

Now she enjoys it and will happily do it herself.

i am no expert but I would say - try not to make it into a trauma, as long as they get used to it for when real teeth come in, i wouldnt stress too much.