How on earth do you brush a toddlers teeth!?

[milkyman]

My 21mth will not let me brush his teeth He just grabs it and throws it. He has a chewable brush which he will happily use - not sure if this ok. I have noticed his teeth at the bottom are a bit brown. I took him to the dentist and she said nothing to worry about - it's just plaque.

He only drinks milk and water from a beaker. No unnecesary sugar, no chocolate but loads of fruit. Please tell me I'm not alone!

Pin down with head in armlock. Job done. After a few weeks they get used to it. One of the few things in our house that are non-negociable. They can do morning on own, we do evening.

Lidl stock a 0-6 years toothpaste in a flavour called "pirate fruits" - dd loves this (she also loves mint toothpaste actually, and will spend quite a bit of time each evening happily deciding which flavour to go for). I know we are lucky that she enjoys having her teeth brushed so much.
As others have said, there are lots of themed toothbrushes around for kids - would one featuring his favourite animal/character etc help? Dd has Hello Kitty ones I get from Poundland - she doesn't even like Hello Kitty particularly, but adores these as they have a lid, and a sucker on the bottom.

I brushed against dc's will too.
After a while he didn't resist anymore.
I don't think it was so much that he hated having he's teeth brushed in the first place, as much as being just another thing to tantrum about, once the whole tantrum stage calmed down so did resisting the teeth brushing.
I did read somewhere, or maybe someone told me that its best to hold the toothbrush in a pincer grasp rather that in a fist to not accidently apply too much pressure.

Just to add that a friend of mine who hates to upset her dd so much ended up having to take her to have 4 teeth out at age 3.

I don't negotiate either from a year as he had nearly a full set. Also lots of fruit and not very good brushing can r damaging to teeth. It is a really cause of dental decay and damage in children. Eating cheese after fruit helps absorb ad neutralise the acid. I wouldn't be happy with brown teeth at such a young age sorry. U can get children electric brushes as well which would do more cleaning in a quicker time.

milkyman, we still sometimes have to wrap ds in a towel at 4 to get the job done. I don't like doing it, but he has had 4 teeth removed already (he has hypoplastic teeth and severe reflux), so there is no option really.

We've got a flashing toothbrush. She presses the button to start it and it flashes for one minute which is the recommended time for teeth brushing for a child. It was only cheap in boots. Maybe 1.99- cant exactly remember but it wasn't expensive. Anyway this isn't the complete answer to the troubles we have. It helps a bit but she still kicks off every time. Sadly I have to threaten the naughty corner which she responds to every time and says sorry mummy and lets me do it. I have a very firm "right! That's enough. Do you want to go in the corner?" It works and nothing else does. I hate getting firm like that but I don't have time to be messing around with things that take one minute that turns into 10 because of the tantrums!

DH said he has had a shouting contest with DS1 before, so every time he opens his mouth for his turn at shouting, DH shoves the toothbrush in and gets cleaning. He says it works a treat - I wondered what all the bloody racket was, and what the neighbours would think!

Brute force I'm afraid. My teeth are terrible. My parents were fantastic but tooth brushing was never high on the agenda. I'm not letting my daughters have the issues that I have with my teeth. So they get held down if necessary. It's tough luck and tough love.

I'm really surprised at the responses here. I don't live in the UK so don't know what the norm is there, but where I am pinning a child down to clean their teeth is considered abuse and people get prosecuted for it . My DS is a mouth clamper so I've taken to tickling him as he can't clamp if he's laughing. So one hand to tickle, the other to have a quick scrub.

Really! Our dentist recommended the wrapping in a towel method.

I used to make mine laugh to brush teeth too.

I did sometimes have to catch him first though! And then block escape! Can see a towel or similar helping, although did not think of this myself. I don't think this palaver disturbed him too much, the laughs continued coming, it was one big game.

Pinning them down is all very well, except when they are 13, taller than you and do hours of gymnastics and are very quick and strong.

Elephant Hmm shock horror picks of horrible teeth? New all singing all dancing toothbrush, favourite toothpaste? Bribes? Don't know, really what I'd do, what have you tried?

ShootMe Letting a toddler with no idea about dental hygiene and no regard for future consequences choose whether they clean their teeth or not is neglect in these parts.
There are very few instances where most people would get on with something against the dc's will but teeth cleaning is on that list alongside dentist visits and immunisation shots. It's really more loving than leaving it to save a few tears. Great tickleing works for you at the moment though.

Eh? Toddlers in these parts still get their teeth cleaned, just not by force.

We used to pin down , friend works with special needs patients showed me how.

Lie them with their head between your legs, their legs pointing same direction as yours, arms under your knees so they can move but not stop you using brush.Didn't have to do it very often threat was enough.

(I'm a dentist)

We had a no teeth brushing = no bedtime story rule. Harsh & resulted in crying but it worked & still works at 3yrs old.

I've long since given up, she does now clean them a bit in the morning and fortunately they don't seem to rot.

Main problem is I'm going to have to get her to the dentist sometime soon (can't remember when she last went) and she will be unreasonable about it.

No idea why, she's a clever, sensible child about most other things (well if you ignore food), but she can't conceive how anyone would want to be a dentist and finds the whole idea yuck.