Getting a toddler to brush/let their teeth be brushed

[Poppyred85]

Looking for advice or tips please! Ds is 2.5 and has been pretty good at letting me brush his teeth but over the last couple of months or so has become increasingly difficult. We have always let him brush his teeth (he chews on the toothbrush) and then we brush them but now he will say "William brush his teeth" but when he is given the toothbrush might chew on it for a second and then throw it on the floor/in the sink/use it as a drumstick. If me or dh then try to do it he refuses to open his mouth, blows raspberries, makes bubbles/spits the toothpaste, throws his head around, tries to grab the brush...essentially anything to avoid having his teeth brushed. We have tried singing a song (this is the way we brush our teeth...), doing it on his beloved dumper truck first, brushing our teeth with him and trying an electronic toothbrush. None of it has helped! We normally take away toys/don't let him watch Peppa Pig if he's naughty but I don't think this will work if I do it before bed.
Any suggestions please?!

Any one else have a toddler who has tantrums because "there's not enough toothpaste" DD is 2yr 10mth and pretty good at doing her teeth other than this which can go on for up to twenty minutes if she's tired or on one..... We use the kids toothpaste given by the dentist and always a suitable amount that gets plenty of bubbles etc.

Use to but I've changed to brand he doesn't like as much so doesn't want to eat it.

Pin and brush.

we use a non-mint toothpaste - not sure how effective it is, we get it in Lidl - which he finds more acceptable than the mint which really upsets him.

I pin him down on my bed and do it despite the screeching.

He is the same age - 2.6 - and has phases of letting me then not letting me.
Generally they hate being held down more than they hate the brushing I think but it isthe only way.

I didn't do this with ds2 and thought he would be Ok but his teeth went to pot so I insist now. Most nights anyway - sometimes he falls asleep on my boob and I don't wake him to brush, we do it the next day.

It will pass.

Mine already has a little bit of erosion at the side of his front tooth which was awful to find, however if we keep brushing I hope it will burn itself out as it were. I am very ashamed of this - it's probably because I didn't brush them till he was nearly two, it being pretty much impossible to accomplish.

ARGHHHHH

My dentist also said getting some fluoride into them, any way you can, is important - even if they don't let you brush. So let them eat a bit of toothpaste if that's all you can do.

I'm going to try some of these tips; my 19 mo has started to resist teeth cleaning.

DD (3) is obsessed with the tooth fairy since an older friend lost a baby tooth so I now I say that the tooth fairly comes at night to check her teeth are nice and clean! We've also used "aahs" (back teeth) and "ees" (front teeth) which she gets to shout loudly as she can and "got to clean off all those crumbs/food", and now the tooth fairy song which is basically singing "aah" and "eee" as melodically as I can manage not at all as I can't sing for toffee

I am thinking of getting her an electric one though as think it would clean better. DD2 (18m) swaps between a "proper" toothbrush and a BrushBaby when she is teething - I think they probably do a better job of cleaning back teeth at least as she'll chew it for ages.

I'm with purplemurple on this. My daughter went through a phase of resisting me cleaning her teeth with her, so I just let her do them herself and when she occasionally allowed I gave them a good scrub myself. This was in combination with lots of chats about how we have germs on our teeth that need cleaning properly and how sweets and chocolate etc were the things that made the most germs and how she wouldn't be allowed to eat much sweets/chocolate if she wouldn't let me clean her teeth properly. A couple of months later she's as good as gold, actually quite enjoys having her teeth cleaned. Won't work for everyone of course, but an alternative strategy if forcing and pinning down doesn't appeal. No judgement on those that do this, perhaps I would have resorted to this tactic if the above hadn't worked!

I despair really. I tried SO hard with ds1, and he hated it and needed sitting on, though after getting orange toothpaste he got better - he still had a tiny bit of decay. And the dentist's nurse told me off for trying to make him open his mouth in the surgery! Which made me feel awful.

Then with ds2 I took the laid back approach, partly on the grounds of that telling off, particularly as most of his diet consisted of actimel and breast milk but he ended up with a lot of decay and had four extractions

The way the dentists speak to you as a mother of a child with tooth decay was something I'll not forget in a hurry.

THAT is the reason I force ds3. I can't go through that again, I really can't, and children with tooth ache are not happy. Though ds2 only had one abscess on each side, once, they took the other two out in case.

I felt so sorry for him and so completely ashamed. I hate forcing a child to do anything, I really do, and it isn't in my repertoire normally but with this I can't think of another way.

I just hope it is very temporary. Also I do not hurt him - he knows it doesn't hurt, he just wants to exert control, and sometimes he thinks it is funny to resist.

I don't know any other way. I really don't. And he very rarely has sweets, no juice worth a mention, breast fed still, he drinks water or milk usually.

purple their milk test at the back don't fall out and get replaced by adult teeth until they're 12 or something,

I laid it on with a trowel about what the end result of not brushing your teeth would be - nasty black rotten teeth, pain, drilling, horrible smelly breath that every one would notice etc etc. plus the odd bit of pinning.

I haven't read the full thread yet but in the last few days I have had to be really firm with DS (2.5) as he flatly refuses to clean his teeth.

I always start of nicely, saying its time to clean your teeth and offer him a choice of two brushes, both of which get refused. I ask him again in a firmer voice to clean his teeth, and the third time I ask and he refuses, without saying a word, I pick him up, put him in his room, shut the stair gate and walk away where he can't see me. He cries his head off until I come back a few minutes later.

Then I say again, will you clean your teeth now? We try again, and if he mucks about again, straight back into his room as per above.

Sometime we have to do this four times before he lets me clean his teeth. Afterwards he always gets lots of praise, cuddles, a bedtime song and story.

I would rather not pin him down and find that withdrawing from him is far more effective. For now anyway.

But I agree, that you get to a point where they have to have their teeth cleaned even if it means tears and tantrums.

Will go back and read the rest of the thread now...

Mines not even two yet he doesn't have those teeth yet.

my little one hasn't arrived yet, so I can't speak from personal experience, but I have bought those toothbrushes that flash for a set period of time to encourage teeth cleaning for friends/family, who all said they helped a lot.

it is possible they were just being polite to me (!) but you could try it with one of those?

I do the MN Regulation Toddler Hold (sat on lap, child's arm behind your back, your arm encircling their back and pinning other arm to their side) with DD (16 months). I've "brushed" her teeth twice a day since her first tooth came through at 7 months. She's always put up a bit of a fight, particularly with her top teeth but I'd much rather deal with a tantruming toddler twice a day than a child in agony from tooth decay.

Elmo song, electric toothbrush and a toy crocodile with teeth that we practice brushing on. Sometimes she even let's me in to brush them if I let her brush mine as well. Each day is different so different things work. Lots of great suggestions here. I've had a couple of dentists tell me that a quick wipe of their teeth with washcloth does the trick also.
It's very dangerous to disregard milk teeth and let them decay - this can get extremely painful for children and having a dentist do extensive work needed (pulling teeth etc) to deal with it can be very traumatic for a toddler. Rotting milk teeth can also damage their adult teeth.

There is a stark difference between letting them rot and not feeling the need to pin and brush for four mins a day though.
We've gone from clamped shut mouth to brush in and to all corners and me helping a little over a couple of months so now we are building up the time. So other methods do work for some kids.
I think this is far more affective long term for my kid and if the milk teeth aren't brushed perfectly for a few months I don't think they will rot out of his head. Maybe my first post made it seem like we do nothing at all which isn't what I meant.

Tbh I don't even get how the pinning works do you then get the second parent to force their mouth open and hold it open for the two mins while you brush?

I've been looking at the various books around aimed at toddlers for brushing teeth. Anyone got a good one they can recommend?

There is a stark difference between letting them rot and not feeling the need to pin and brush for four mins a day though.

I wish I could find what it is!!!

I know, though, Purple and I have no problem with your method, I'm just not confident enough to risk it -mine would probably still refuse. I wish I was confident.

With regard to pinning him down, it's usually a case of he climbs on my big double bed, which I share with him, and romps around for a bit, playing or running (!) or whatever and I sort of wield the toothbrush - and he plays 'chase me' - and then I eventually grab him - in a nice way - and sort of sit/lie over him so that he can't wriggle off, and I have to hold his arms with my other arm, and then he usually opens his mouth with a bit of protest and then I do it as gently as I can, while he stops quite often, and we do about half a minute if we're lucky. Sometimes he forgets where he is and we get a whole minute or even two...it is not like torture, and I don't have a husband to help.

I don't like enforcing this at all, but he knows it won't hurt, he just wants to choose not to do it which I totally understand but when he does co-operate which he sometimes does, it is fine.

It's not normally extreme distress. Just a sort of 'cross' shout, almost a laugh as he wants it to be a game, but sadly it isn't.

Poor baby...it is one thing that makes me wonder if I was meant to be a parent, iykwim?

Also I only use a tiny bit of toothpaste.

No one likes the feeling of drowning in bubbles and spit. I understand this and if they ever need to spit I let them sit up, but I never use enough to make too much bubbles as it would probably make him afraid he was going to have to swallow it.

That is my top tip actually. Non-mint toothpaste (still fluoride) and hardly any so it doesn't go really foamy. And letting them stop now and again. You have to build trust even while enforcing it.

My DS who is 2.6 has started to be keen on brushing his teeth as he wants to get rid of the 'sugar bugs'. I think nursery told him these mystical bugs exist, but I'm not complaining as he now actually wants to brush away the bugs instead of us having a battle over tooth brushing every eve.

Tonight I wrapped mine up in his towel, pinned his arms hard and brushed.

I used to do mine at the same time. We used to pretend our teeth were a house that needed a spring clean. So front door, back of the door, upstairs in the bedrooms and all that bollocks. It worked and I would get him to check I'd done mine ok and I could check his. (other twin never had an issue

Does anyone have any good tips for a younger baby? My 10mo DS clamps his mouth tight shut and whips it from side to side to avoid the brush.

Try a cloth on your finger. And try changing brand and flavour toothpaste.