How to look after a 15mo's teeth?

[Cosmo89]

I'm really worried about DS's teeth!

I was advised by our dentist that, as it's difficult to brush a little toddler's teeth, it was more effective to wipe them after meals with a damp muslin. We've been doing this reasonably successfully for the past 2 months (he still has only 8 teeth) but now he's not having any of it. I've tried different tactics, making it fun etc, but nothing is working. I am going to try teeth brushing now, and giving him a toothbrush to do it himself, as part of it is an autonomy thing I think.

But, if that fails, which it probably will and even if it doesn't it wont be particularly effective, what on earth do you do?

I used to get mine in a headlock and brush them while he protested. That sounds awful, doesn't it?! But it only lasted 20 seconds and some things are not negotiable.

We also invented a 'brush your teeth' song which we used to sing so that he knew how long it was going to last.

He's now 3, and brushes his own teeth beautifully (although I give them a once over when he has finished). He sometimes even sings the 'brush your teeth' song while he does it

Ooh I need to know this too! Dd gets beyond hysterical and I'm trying everything to make it less harrowing for us both!

We bought a dinosaur toy with very obvious teeth and DS has a toothbrush to brush Dino's teeth while we zoom in with a loaded brush to do his.

Try getting him to stick his tongue out and get in while he's doing that.

Try telling him to make his mouth as wide as he can and make as much noise as he can like singing really high or really low, or the rarrrrrr lion noise(that's a good one)...and get in while he's doing that.

We do lots of these things - my neighbours must think we're bonkers

I have always done the same as Beela, my dentist always comments on their clean teeth.

DS 'brushes' his own teeth in the morning, and I do it properly in the evening. If he's not having it I resort to the headlock strategy, but usually things that help are:
-giving him a different toothbrush to play with at the same time
-'spotting' food that needs to be cleaned "OH LOOK! A potato!! Let's brush that away". He's taken to this and often starts listing off other stuff he's eaten (he's 2.4 now)
-counting slowly to 10, at 10 we're done
-getting him to wash his hands (he loves washing his hands), while I brush his teeth

I often give my DS (23 months) his toothbrush while he's in the bath, he trys to brush his teeth himself. I try to make sure i do them for him at least once a day.

I try to make it fun as well, bush teeth then we blow bubbles at the sink to try to teach him good habit of spitting toothpaste out.

I had to use the headlock/pin-down for a while.

I did the head lock thing.. sit down with kid inbetween knees.. back to tummy. one hand holding the chin with elbow over the chest.. press cheeks/jaw to open and brush with other hand and use legs to pin rest of body.

Worked pretty good... you do it really fast and they resign themselves eventually. Teeth brushing is non-negotiable.