Help with teeth cleaning please.

[ShadeofViolet]

I am getting desperate!

DS is 3 and has ASD. He has always hated having his teeth cleaned and now its getting worse, he just refuses and gets really upset. His receptive language is very poor so there is no reasoning with him, and reward charts are no good either. We tried a first and then board and that hasnt worked either.

I have tried songs, flashing toothbrushes, sparkly toothpaste, no toothpaste and its still not helped, he wont let the toothbrsuh go anywhere near his mouth. Its even more of a worry because he doesnt have a very tooth friendly diet - he eats lots of fruit, raisins and smoothies.

Does anyone have any other ideas. I will try anything!

My daughter is 12 and really bad about brushing still. I use brute force and a small-headed collis curve toothbrush (from Fledglings) which is meant to brush more efficiently with less effort.

Try and get rid of the rasins, our dentist said they cling to the teeth and are as bad as fruit gums.

We have the same problem with our 4 year old although she has got slightly better in the last few days and may let you get in there for a split second.
We have been referred to a 'special dentist' for kids like ours!! Although I don't know how they manage to assess the childrens mouths at all.. We'll find out..
Our old dentist who gave up trying to get a look at her teeth said to really try and get some flouride in at least, on a toothbrush or finger. He also said to try and have something to neutralise the acids in the mouth and break down sugars before bed like cheese.. Luckily our dd doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. She started to try and brush my teeth and that seemed to work these last few days as she washes my teeth I quickly sneak the toothbrush in her mouth and have a quick brush before she realises and then bites it or starts screamimg! We only try at night in case it sets the tone for the whole day!
Have to say my mouth is still recovering though from her handiwork!
Good luck..I know how grim that time can be..

My DS really hated the taste/smell of mint. He used the strawberry flavour baby ones for years, he wouldn't even use the baby mint ones. It's amazing how hard it can be to find non-minty toothpaste - for adults I would say it's practically impossible.

We encouraged my son to make as loud a noise as he could whilst the toothbrush was in his mouth. We called it the Argh! method.

The minute he took the toothbrush out the noise had to stop.

Have you tried electric toothbrushes by the way? He might find them fascinating, or not!

I have this problem with ds (11)and it's got worse recently as he's now refusing to have toothpaste and actually sniffs the brush to make sure there is no smell of toothpaste at all. We play lots of games - he has lots of teddies and we play 'Guess the brusher' and has to feel the teddy and guess which one it is.I give him sugarfree gum a lot after meals as I've read that chewing helps.I worry about his teeth a lot.He qualified for a brace under NHS but couldn't have it as you have to brush meticulously to avoid damage to the teeth from the brace.

I tried for years with DS (4) who has ASD no speech and very delayed understanding, and have posted on here for advice before and now most mornings and evening I get a good 30-45 second brush.

I did it like this:

DS favourite thing at this time was stickers (although he eats them but hey ho). I knew he liked the toothpaste after trying many- he eats it and he was happy to suck the toothpaste off of the toothbrush (a soft bristle baby toothbrush)so I knew neither were a problem - I also tried collis curve, flashing, electric etc.

So I touched the toothbrush to his mouth really quickly and rewarded him straight away (I mean instantly) with a sticker on his hand which he then peeled and ate. The next time I did 2 seconds then reward etc until 10 secs then I jumped up in 5 second gaps 15, 20, 25 etc (I told DS how long we were going to brush and then started counting aloud and then rewarded him). Ds likes numbers so I think he finds the counting quite rewarding as well. He is visibly uncomfortable with it and some days I have to cut it short if he looks very uncomfortable but most days he lets me. We did have a set back a while ago and had to start from scratch again but it has really worked for us. Even though ds isn't that keen on stickers he accepts it as part of the routine.