14 Month old....dental Care

Our pediatrician recommends the first dental visit at 3 yrs, unless you have particular concerns. Try to find a pediatric dentist (ask your pediatrician to recommend one) - they are much better with little kids! I am pretty sure you are not supposed to use toothpaste until age 2. I bought baby toothbrushes from the kiddie dental aisle at Target, would wet it with water, and brush my daughter's teeth just with water until she was 2 yrs. old.

K.:

Both the American Academy of Pediatrics (www.aap.org) and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentitst (www.aapd.org) recommend 1 years of age or the eruption of the first tooth. When they are young, the early appointments are more to help counsel the parents.

You should also floss your daughter's teeth if 2 teeth touch each other. Flossing is not age-dependent. It's dependent on the position of the teeth. If the teeth touch, you are not able to get the bristles of the brush in there, thus you need to use floss.

Have fun being a Mom to your daughter. It is the most rewarding experience.

BTW, I am a pediatric dentist and mom to a 6-yo boy and 3 yo girl.

You can take your daughter to a dentist as soon as she has teeth! If you have questions this would probably be your best option.
-S.

I have a 2yr old. I have been using a small childs soft toothbrush and brushing her's with water once or twice a day. I have not used toothpaste as of yet, cause I know she cannot spit it out. They do make toddler toothpaste that does not have flouride in case they swallow it, but yet they should be spitting it out. I know some say to have them at the dentist when they are 2 or 3. I really think it depends on the child, I'm leaning more towards 4 for her. I have learned that it is very important to care for the baby teeth even though they will someday loose them. It is important to keep the mouth clean, and the teeth clean of depris that food causes, if not cleaned properly they could get gum disease as well. I hope some of the dentists and hygenists that are on this site will give you some help too, I know there are a few here.

once the teeth are in, 2 times a day, using baby toothpaste. It is NOT easy brushing their teeth. Try the "let me tickle your teethies" method, they think its funny and you can get quite a bit done that way. Both of my kids got to ages where i laid them on the floor and "sat" on them holding their arms at their sides with my knees! It was the ONLY way. Bad teeth run in my family, so there was NO way they were not going to brush! Good luck!

K.,

Since no one has posted about an age to start flossing our dentist recommends flossing as soon as the 2-year molars are in. So that's when we started with ours... Our dentist also started seeing our kids when they turned 2, first for just a peek at their teeth and then at 2 1/2 and for their first cleaning. Our daughter did great, though I think she sat on my lap for the first appointment. Our son just turned 2 and I think he'll be fine for his first cleaning in 6 months.

Hi K. - Why not call your own dentist and ask this question? That way, you can also ask about whem her first appointment should be!

Hi K.,
You should start brushing the teeth using a soft toothbrush (made for kids) as soon as they have any teeth. Oral B toothpaste for kids is great, there is no flouride. Brush twice a day, morning and night. They have Thomas the Train toothbrushes at Target that sing, typically you should try to brush for the length of the song (good luck!). My son loves it and is now trying to brush on his own at 20 months. My dentist told me the first visit should be around age 3. Please do your homework prior to giving flouride to your baby at this young age. Just another controversial subject.

K.,
HI. I was just at my dentists office the other day for some info. I am not sure about the younger age stuff, but they said they should go for their first appt at age 3, be brushing their teeth with real toothpaste and if you can get them to floss, please do. As for the age of your baby, I think you can use the clear training paste/toothbrush and at least 2 times a day to get them into the habit..

Hi K.,

My daughter just turned two, and we've been using the floride-free toothpaste and a toddler toothbrush since just after her first birthday. With both my kids, we found that the only way to get their teeth clean at around 18 months without a fight was to have 2 toothbrushes. They got to use one, and then we got a turn with ours. Sometimes now I'll let her just brush on her own in the morning, but I definitely make sure to get them well myself at least once a day.

It doesn't make sense to go to the dentist until your child can sit still in the dentist chair and follow directions (open your mouth to let me count your teeth...). My son did great when he was 3. I just took him to my dentist. He watched when they cleaned my teeth, and then had his turn. My daughter is definitely not ready yet!!

D.

You should be brushing w/ fluride free toothpaste at least twice a day. You may have better luck if you let her pick the toothbrush

My son is also 14 months and has 12 teeth. Since he was 9 months old, he was the one wanting to copy mummy and daddy i the bathroom. As the previous post, I bought 2 baby brushes and baby toothpaste. Then , we let him brush his teeth when we do brush ours with his brush #1 and then we "help" him and do the job ourselves with brush #2. Untill now, this has worked great. I hope that phase of "I want to copy you and I want to do it all by myself" will last for long, as we are taking so much advantage of it for so many things all day!

I have 4 children with nice teeth. Have a family member come with you and bring her to your dentist where she can see you get "your" teeth cleaned. She will see that there is nothing to fear. Play dentist with her. Have her lay down on the rug and check her teeth. Count them first. Have her check yours too. Then you gently brush hers. She will enjoy the game. Toothpaste is "not" important. It's the brushing. I have an 11 year old that never liked any toothpaste with no cavities. Have her do it herself every morning and "you" do it for her before bed. Avoid sugary juices after brushing and before bed. Only water.
There will be no rush to get her to the dentist if you don't see anything that looks suspicious. You can even use a flashlight.
Good luck!
S.

Hi I am a dental assistant. We don't see kids usually until they are three.You should look and make sure there are no dark spots on their teeth though.You can brush with a toothbrush to get them used to it but don't use regular tooth paste.They usually don't get the concept of spitting until they are three.They do sell baby toothpaste though that is not harmful if swallowed.Use just a tiny bit.You can check with your dentist to see what age he /she reccommends.Pediatric dentists see kids younger than three so call.

> I used to distract my daughter with a made-up song, to the tune of
Row, Row Your Boat; when the song was done, the brushing was done:
>
> Brush, brush, brush your teeth
> Brush your teeth I say
> Higgledy-piggledy boppity boop
> We brush them twice a day