Brushing teeth / forcing teeth to be brushed

[mummylifeofsmilesandtears]

At what age did you force brush your childs teeth?

My baby is 14 months and now has 12 teeth. My baby will chew the end of a toothbrush with toothpaste on by themselves for around 10-20 seconds. However will not let me go near to attempt to do a propa brush and clean of the teeth.

I have been reluctant to force brush as when I tried this a few times it resulted in when my baby saw the toothbrush would start to cry and refuse to even hand the toothbrush.

My baby will now again brush his teeth but is more of a chew of the brush as obviously can't brush/clean them properly.

I don't want to force brush and it becomes a negative experience again resulting in refusing to even hold the brush.

But of course I know I need to clean my baby's teeth properly and will eventually have to force brush if my baby doesn't let me do it.

Just wondering what were your experiences with brushing teeth and what age did you force brush if you had too.

Thanks xxx

We didn't force brush or floss and our dd had fillings at the age of two.

Once she got old enough to understand the concept of monsters (about 2 and a half), I told her that there were little monsters living in sweets, fruit, and ice cream and they like to hide in our teeth and eat them. YouTube videos made for kids about teeth brushing back up my story. The little bacteria cartoons look like monsters so I was pretty convincing.

We sing a song at bedtime as we brush and floss our teeth. Monsters monsters go away. The toothbrush is electric and plays music and the floss is on those little plastic sticks that are easy to get in a child's mouth.

Anyway it might sound a bit cruel to tell a child about monsters but it worked, and the added benefit is she doesn't worry about monsters under the bed because we have just done the whole monster exorcism ritual and got rid of them all.

We have always force brushed if we had to from when she started resisting it about 18m or so. She goes through phases where she will let us do it ok and ones where she won't and needs to be forced. As a general rule in the last few months she's been much better with letting us brush them nicely, she will be 3 in summer. She's been to the dentist twice and both times no issues and the dentist agrees we should pin her down to brush etc if that's what we have to, I'm really surprised other people say their dentists said not to do this. Like PP if she's reluctant we offer a 'do you want to do the nice way or do you want to be stuck?' as she doesn't like being 'stuck'. Usually she will then come and sit for the nice way but on the odd occasion she won't then we explain why we need to brush her teeth and that she has chosen to be stuck and then we grit our teeth keep hold of her and brush. It will be worth it, as horrible as it is.

Can I ask..those who hold down/force do you do that morning and night? Think I might need to get a bit tougher x

Yes. Each time until they could choose between the easy or hard way.

It's non negotiable.

Yes we would do it morning and night where necessary. Now she's nearing 3 it is usually only a few times a month as she tolerates brushing much better now.

Yup, morning and night here too when necessary. We're very similar MeadowHay, I say do you want to do it in the bathroom or on the floor? And around 22 months he understood on the floor meant being pinned down, so started to choose bathroom and comply.

There are a few videos on youtube for how to position them to hold down every limb! I have a very, very strong, wriggly child.

@PerspicaciousGreen you do know that if he has bad baby teeth it can cause damage to his adult teeth? Hopefully someone will be able to advise but if you suspect a lip tie can you not take him to the GP?

I'm another forcer - teeth cleaning is non-negotiable and its the first thing people notice about you if you're teeth are rotten!

your obviously

[quote moomoogalicious]@PerspicaciousGreen you do know that if he has bad baby teeth it can cause damage to his adult teeth? Hopefully someone will be able to advise but if you suspect a lip tie can you not take him to the GP?

I'm another forcer - teeth cleaning is non-negotiable and its the first thing people notice about you if you're teeth are rotten![/quote]
Yes! I absolutely do know! The whole thing causes me great anguish! I truly don't feel like I know what the best thing to do is.

When my daughter's lip tie was diagnosed as a little baby, I was told they didn't do anything to older children unless it affected their eating or talking. And a general anaesthetic to have your lip chopped apart is a pretty rough thing for a toddler to go through. I can pull the lip back (obviously, to see the line of gunge!) so in theory I could brush if the little sod would hold still. But it's such a finicky thing to hold and if he wriggles his head or clamps his lips shut then I just can't hang on without really pinching him.

Same here, husband is a dentist and tooth brushing is non-negotiable. We waited until DD was almost 2 hoping she'd be willing to do it herself but started force brushing. This YouTube video is gold:

DD (2.5) still hates it and tries to put up a fight but I know she understands it's something that needs to be done. An electric toothbrush is worth it because it get the same job done much faster.

Seriously, tooth brushing is NOT the place to cave in to a child's demands, or to respect their "bodily autonomy". DH sees young children all the time whose entire milk teeth have rotted, and they often grow into adults with extremely poor dental hygiene. There are people in their 20-30s with full dentures because they were never taught the importance of tooth brushing. Allowing that to happen to your children is akin to abuse.