Cleaning teeth

[abitlostandconfused]

My son is 20 months old. Since he was 6 months and had his first teeth, we've been brushing and it has not been a problem - until around 5 months ago. He now won't let me near his teeth. If I try it is a MASSIVE full bown tantrum.

He asks to do his teeth but wants to do it himself and he usually just ends up sucking the toothbrush.

He gets the idea and has ocassionally brushed his teeth when I have done it myself and he has copied. I try to do this everyday but it litterally has been just a couple of times he's copied me.

I am worried about his teeth. He sometimes has bad breath.

I know he's still teething and my not like the sensation of a toothbrush. What do I do?

Go to the dentist? I think the bad breath is likely more to do with lack of water? I think if he is happy to suck the brush, then let him and he'll most likely pick up the plan along the way, esp the less fuss made about it all? A dentist might have a good approach to talk to him about how important it is - ask which one at your practice would be best to deal with children. Often kids take info from other adults that won't take from parents.

I'm not worried about his water in take. We live in Australia and he drinks gallons of the stuff.

Might have a word with the dentist though but as that will cost me $$$$$ just to talk, I thought I'd ask here too!

Thanks for responding.

Could ask daycare to give it a shot after lunch too.

I have the same problem with my DS of the same age. I just hold him down and do it and let him throw a tantrum. I have to make sure his teeth get brushed twice a day because I can't get him to drink water plain so he drinks alot of diluted juice.

We've discussed the holding him down and doing it but I don't want it turning into a fear thing - although I appreciate how delicate his teeth are - something is going to have to come to a head soon though.

I had this with my dd, we did hold her down and do it when she absolutely refused. Now we seem to have got in a good pattern of letting her 'clean' her teeth then 'checking' them afterwards, which is actually us cleaning them.
This way she thinks she's done it but I know they've been cleaned properly. I talked while cleaning them about what I'd 'found in there - ie," oh,my, there's a bit of toast there!" It also helped when we got her a stool to stand on at the sink too.

I held my dd down and brushed her teeth when she was little. She's now 8 and brushes her own teeth well, has no fillings or fear of dentists. I do the same with my 2yr old, and also let her have a turn.

Teeth are so important, and decay in baby ones can damage the ones underneath too. My parents weren't so strict with my teeth and they are awful now, so I'm not taking the chance with my kids. Some things just have to be done.

DS opens his mouth if he's roaring like a dinosaur, so we clean his dinosaur teeth.

we had about a year of arguments every evening with dd about teeth brushing - we eventually got round it through offering stickers as a reward - there are some that you can get online specifcally for tooth brushing and allowing her a certian amount of time (her 'turn' )to have a go at brushing and then allowing us the same amount of time to have a proper brush...she will now at 2.8 actually do a proper brush herself rather than just sucking...but it has been a struggle to get there so i really sympathise

I have 3 children. I have tried EVERYTHING. All I can say if, rather unhelpfully, is that they do grow out of being difficult about it.

Do perservere - I like the dinosaur roaring tip! I didn't press the issue enough with my DD and to my shame, she has a couple of little black spots on her teeth, despite generally brushing her teeth twice a day - she went through a very unhelpful phase but is now really co-operative and lets me brush hers after she's had a go, but the damage during her unco-operative time is plain to see.

my dd is 4 and is still a nightmare. The only toothpaste she will consider is sainsburys strawberry gel, which they have rather unhelpfully discontinued..we bought some hideously expensive red stuff from waitrose but she knows it's different. So, am putting a tiny bit on sometimes, other times just using water. It's so frustrating.

My 3-year-old went through something similar. So I googled 'rotten teeth' and showed her some pictures of people who didn't brush their teeth. We've never had any problems since!

DD will clean ( like the tombliboos) but swallows all the paste and asks for more - copying ( us and fav cartoons did the trick)

try a fruit-flavoured toothpaste. Mine used to gag on anything minty until they were about 3.

Do persevere - a good tooth-brushing habit is essential.

And never, ever, ever give sugary diluting-type juice between meals.

My sister had a similar problem with her DD at the same age. She spoke to her dentist about it and he said to hold her down and brush them! I'm sure it won't leave any long lasting fears. Not as scary as having to have a mouth full of fillings.

leave him be, they'll all fall out anyway.

I've gone through hell with this too My son has some rot from me starting too late and just giving up at times I'm ashamed to say.

I manage to do them everyday now, as I've made it clear that I will sit in the bathroom all night and not tuck him into bed until they are brushed.
I say 'let mummy brush peggies, then mummy will come give nice cuddles and going to bed'
he knows it has to be done eventually.
When I do it I will say 'oh tickling your peggies' 'you are such a clever boy letting mummy brush them' 'oh well done' etc etc

But mainly, yeah, even if he refuses for upto 40 minutes initially he will get the idea it's something that has to be done.
If he ever want a bedtime story etc..

and the dentist, i've took my son twice, both times a waste of time as he refused to open his mouth and theh dentist said they will not force him as it could cause fear in future.
They said if I think his teeth are getting really bad they will put him to sleep to investigate, then pull them out if they look at risk of infection.
That's the attitude I've got from two seperate dentists.