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Parenting

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Original poster

Children cleaning their own teeth

9 replies

StrawberryBeret · 14/12/2009 11:15

How old were your children when you trusted them to clean their teeth on their own without any sort of supervision from you at all?

Some people I speak with children as young as 6 seem happy to leave them to get on with it totally on their own but I think that's way too young to do it without an adult at least overseeing what they're doing and checking they're doing it properly.

What do you think?

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Highlander · 14/12/2009 12:06

age 8.

up until thern you should be doing most of the work (focusing on the molars) then give them a little go at the end.

age 8. I've been told to get an electric toothbrush with a timer bnuiltin.

EndangeredSpecies · 14/12/2009 12:11

my dd is nearly 6 but can't be trusted to do them on her own. She can only do the bottom ones.

Mamazontopofsantabeingrude · 14/12/2009 12:12

mine are 9 & 5.
I let the 9yo brush them but then i go over them prior to rinsing them.

5 yo - not a chance in hell!

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MollieO · 14/12/2009 14:25

Ds has had regular check ups at the dentist but really took on board her comments about cleaning teeth properly when he got to 4. He has a toothbrush with a timer so knows he has to keep brushing until it stops. He has had several check ups since then and the dentist comments on how good his oral hygiene is.

TheShowMustGoOn · 14/12/2009 14:37

My Dc are 4 & 5 and they do them themselves, see the dentist every 6 months and their teeth are perfect.

maybe the toothbrushes that play ;club tropicana; as you brush help?

Original poster

StrawberryBeret · 14/12/2009 14:46

My dentist has said that children should not be left to clean their teeth completely unsupervised until they are 13!!!

My DS is 9 and I leave him to it but, as someone else has said, give them a going over fosussing on the molars and what I consider to be the hard to reach areas before rinsing.

He has a timer toothbrush too so knows not to stop until it makes its sound.

I stil think that even with this sort of brush kids need to know how to clean their teeth properly and while I think 13 may be a bit excessive, I think 4 and 5 is way too young to be left to do it alone.

Dentists vary hugely and we have recently switched dentists and I've found that our new dentist is way more thorough than our previous one where my DS is concerned. The old one used to take a very arbitrary look around in his mouth and declare that everything is fine whereas the new one takes time to do a more thorough exam.

OP posts:

MollieO · 14/12/2009 22:51

Ds's dentist was more than happy that ds is left to clean his own teeth at a young age. I suppose it depends on the dentist and the child and of course she can check how well he does it at the 6 monthly check ups.

brimfull · 14/12/2009 22:53

ds is 7 he does them himself with electric brush in the morning
at bedtime we do them and he finishes off

choppychopster · 14/12/2009 23:07

Oops! DD is 3yo and I let her do her own in the morning whilst I supervise and give her a bit of direction ("do the ones at the top on this side a bit more" kind of thing). In the evening she does them herself, but I go over them to check she's got them all.

To be fair she does seem to do a pretty good job and the dentist said that he was pleased with her teeth at her check up last month.

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