Any dentists on her or dental therapists?

[Nik2879]

After some after some advice please. My 20 month old will not let me brush his teeth. Im getting so stressed every night over it now. He clamps his mouth shut and I cant even get the brush in. Tried everything him brushing my teeth, giving him a toothbrush, trying to make it fun. His teeth are starting to look yellow and I know its due to not being brushed properly. I don't know what to do, any help??

I may get slated for this but my youngest was the same and I'm afraid I resorted to pinning him down on the bathroom floor, he opened his mouth to complain and you get the brush in there! Eventually they give in and allow you to do it without complaining to get it over with quicker. I say eventually because I'm pretty sure I was still doing this when he was three😂 he's over 30 now and no fillings...... He can't have held it against me as he still lives with me from choice😁

There is a simple solution to this which does not hurt them in anyway. They might cry but they'll cry more when a dentist has to drill their tooth to clear out crap for a filling.

Place your child on their back on the floor, place their arms under your knees. There isn't any contact with your legs and their arms they just can't get out.

Their head will be in between your legs. Google it. Perfectly fine to do. Work as a dental nurse and we tell patients to do it this way. Also a dentist on YouTube who shows you how to do it properly.

I thought people would say this. I really didnt wanna go down that road and have tears every night. I understand its better than them having fillings though.

Wtf am I reading!!! How about positive reinforcements, encouragement and making it a fun thing to do instead scarring your children for life! We've moved on in the times since abusing your children was considered ok

Scarring? Abusing? Have a day off 😂🤣

My DD will only let her teddy brush her teeth... We have to put on a silly voice and sing the "toothbrush song", whilst making the teddy brush her teeth. She thinks it's hilarious and loves having her teeth brushed now!

As above. Some days he'll brush his own, others he'll refuse and we'll brush them for him. Not brushing is not an option. Would love to say all the 'encouragement' and 'making it fun' works but it hasn't and, honestly, we don't have the time to spend hours on convincing him to brush his teeth. He's 19 month old and largely doesn't understand enough to be encouraged or bribed yet. Similar carry on with antibiotics-he just needs to take them and that's that. Complains while it's happening and forgets almost instantly so doubtful it's scarring him 😂 has a bigger reaction to reaching the bottom of his crisp packet. Very few tears, if any. Just a bit of complaining. Good luck 🤞🏽

Maybe he doesn’t like the taste of the toothpaste? Could try oranurse- it’s flavourless

Just turned two year old and we have a few tactics - duggee toothbrush song, reading a book, counting to ten, brushing all the teddies teeth. If not a pin down and try to make him laugh first so he opens his mouth and shove it in.

I'm A dental nurse and I went for the 'pin down' technique for a while and now we use toothbrush songs and she picks a new toothbrush every 2 months and she loves it.

We have been doing the making him laugh while hes lying down on the bed but after 2 weeks he's got wise to that now and doesn't open his mouth anymore.

It's all very well saying make it fun but if the fun and games don't work after a while then you do need to resort to just getting it done. It's a non negotiable for me and whilst the Duggee song did work for a while it then stopped and I just had to pin her down and get on with it. That lasted a few months. Rather that than a filling at 2. However, she now willingly lets us brush her teeth so it can't have scared her that much!

Hold him down. It isn’t abuse but allowing dental neglect is.

Wrap them in a towel with their arms inside, sit them on your knee cuddle in tight and brush those teeth.

If the "fun" options aren't working then yeah I'm afraid some sort of pinning down is the option. We did the big towel burrito route for months! Better than having fillings imo. Also do the same move to get antibiotics into him recently.

Hi, I know it is not an easy task. But we can't avoid brushing because it will be very harmful in the future. The first thing is up to you, you must have some patience, just play with him and try to brush behind him with a finger brush. Better to use anti-fluoride rinse instead of toothpaste until they know how to spit properly. Wish you luck🙂