Brushing Teeth - Bryson City,NC

J., how precious! Hang on to this memory...it will be the first of many battles! Having said that, don't stress it either! I always let the kids see me brushing my teeth and told them to brush with me...if they did great, if they didn't oh well. Letting them see how I did it, helped to instill in them how they need to do it. Has he been to the dentist yet? I thought taking kids early was nuts, but my son has gone since he was 2 and loves it. He has been brushing his own teeth since then also. Not always the best, but sometimes I'll ask if he wants to do it or me...he's now 4 and we are trying to stop mommy from doing it, but I do still watch. If I don't think he has done a good job I'll brush them myself. You have to try to make it a game, they also have toothbrushes for older kids, that play a song while you brush...maybe let him do that, or sing the ABCs while he brushes! My kids think it's funny when I did that. Let's see...I think that's all I did. If they didn't brush I didn't make a big deal out of it and their teeth are fine. The important thing is getting them to the dentist every 6 months. Establish a good connection there and it will save you so much! Hope this helps and good luck!

My first thought was maybe it hurts. There could be something going on in his mouth that you can't see. Has he had his first dentist checkup, which ideally should start at 12 months old and go every 6 months from there on out.

If he hasn't had a checkup yet, I would suggest that first just to make sure there isn't something wrong. Most kids have healthy teeth at this age regardless of how parents care for them. Some kids on the other hand, have horrible teeth no matter how hard parents work to care for them.

If he has had a dental checkup recently and everything is okay per the dentist, I'd back off a bit and don't get upset with him about it (the more upset you are the more he will be). Try brushing yours, let him help if he wants, then work on getting his started. Make sure he has an extra soft brush. Training toothpaste without fluoride is okay to use. Kids usually like the yummy flavors they have. If that still doesn't work, back off for a couple days and try again.

Hi J.
Babies like to learn by example, especially if it's Mom and Dad. Have you tried brushing your teeth along side of him. Even let him brush your teeth with your toothbrush. Try making up a song or associate with "this is what a big boy does" or something along those lines. I have my struggles sometimes too (you are definitely not the only one). Sometimes I say let's see how many teeth we can get clean. Or when he starts counting, count with him all the teeth he has to brush.
Creativity will help a lot.

Good luck,P.

I hate to reveal this to all you moms out there, but when my brother and I were growing up, my dad raised us and there was a period of years that we were not forced to brush our teeth. We may have gone months without brushing them once, and today, (my husband hates for me to tell our kids) I am almost 40 and have had 2 cavities when I was an adult and my brother is 36 and had only one cavity as an adult. Our cavities never came as kids. I know that sounds bad, but it is true! We don't have yellow teeth, no crowns, nothing false in our mouths but our own teeth and a total of 3 cavities between us. I really think it has to do with your genes. Out of my 3 children, I have one child that by the time she was 7 had 4 cavities and my other 2 have not had any. I think it is the spacing of their teeth, etc. My oldest has a small mouth and her teeth are very cramped and her cavities actually came on the sides of her teeth where they met and not the center.

My rule in my house is that I have to brush their teeth at least once a day. They can do it the rest of the day. But I have to do it once a day. Now that my daughter is 11 and one son 9, I am not as strict on that as long as they get good check up reports from the dentist. My 5 year old we still help out with brushing. My middle son also does not like the taste of mint and now has been brushing his teeth with baking soda. He still gets good reports from the dentist and the dentist said using it is fine.

I guess the point to my story is that I wouldn't sweat it too badly. I know that habits now will help with the habit as an adult, but they are still just baby teeth. I brush my teeth several times a day even though as a child I didn't hardly brush at all! There is also a cool mouth rinse on the market that when you swish it and spit it out it shows the germs in the sink. Might be a good example.

Looks like everyone else gave you great advice!

One other idea I had was to use a sticker chart and give him a gold star for brushing his teeth. You could make yourself a sticker chart and put a star on your chart, which him watching, right after brushing your teeth.

Also, maybe brushing a doll's teeth first with its own toothbrush would help.

Good luck! Remember, this too will pass.

I had to chuckle about this J.. I think you were right on target with this being about his independence. Even the all out refusal, is a show of his newly forming independent self. I swear I think that 18 months was and always will be my favorite stage. I just had to stick to my guns and weather the storm with all three of mine. It worked great in the end. Brushing his teeth seems like a small battle to me now, with three teens. I do remember it well though. It is only the beginning of a long and very fun road ahead. I don't suggest traumatizing him over it, but stick to it and don't give in. The battles only get bigger. Good luck!

Maybe the brush 'cut' or scratched his gums at some point and the brushing hurt for a few days that you didn't notice. Also, he's probably young enough til if you stop for a while (I mean, these little teeth won't be in there forever, and many people don't brush this early) and then reintroduce it with a toothbrush of his choice in a few weeks or months he may be more 'into' it.

Brush your teeth when he brushes his. That way it's a monkey see monkey do thing. Aslo use music when brushing your teeth and and when the song is over your finished brushing. That will help him tell how long he has to brush. I have an 18 month old to and this works for me.
C.

my best advice would be to let him brush while you brush wile giving him directions, "see if you can get your bottom teeth..." then after you finish brushing let him brush your teeth while you do his. I always sit my son on the sink. I try not to have to much he can jab his brush into with the exception of banging the mirror. hope it gets better.

This usually works on most children - I got the idea from my sister who has 7 of her own and it worked on everyone of hers and on my son!

Tell your son that he has sugar bugs in his mouth and on his teeth. Explain the only way to get them out is to brush. Have him open his mouth and be a little silly even use a flashlight to look. Say "Oh I can see them lets get them! Start brushing his teeth and then act like they are jumping out. Smack your hand on the counter or stomp the floor - act like when you are brushing they are jumping everywhere - the more silly you are the more he will let you brush. Pretty soon it is a game and not a battle. If he still does not want you to brush his mouth let him get the sugar bugs jumping out of your mouth while you brush then say now your turn! It works!

Also try Tanner's Tastey paste - by far the best tasting tooth paste you can get - try to find it at a childrens dentist or you can go on line to tannerstasteypaste.com

Good Luck - happy sugar bug hunting!

Get him a new fun toothbrush let him pick it out and have everyone brush at the same time. thats what i had to do now my boy is 3 and loves to brush after every peace of sticky candy...

Do you give him a multi-vitamin? I can bribe my 22 month old with a vitamin and he lets me brush his teeth. However, with my 4 year old we did have to hold her down to brush her teeth. It lasted about 6 months when she was about the same age as your little one. Now, she jumps up from the table as soon as she's done eating and brushes herself without being asked! It's probably just a phase, hang in there!

J.,

Teresa is absolutely correct on the super bug trick. My son is 19 months old and we have been doing this same thing. We brush and floss our teeth together. The only time he will not do it is when it is past his bedtime at night. Mornings are great....

Anyway, all I have to say is lets brush and floss our teeth. We must take out all those bug bugs. Let Mommy get em.' Then, after brushing a row a couple times, I use my free hand and act like the bug is crawling out in the air and up the wall to get away. When we first started doing this, I told him to stomp out the bug bugs before they got away.

This was a great invention by some mom out there. :-) I thank her every morning and evening when doing this task with my son.

Make sure you have a toothbrush with soft bristles. Skip the toothpaste and use just water. Let him brush whatever he wants--counter, walls, mirror with his toothbrush and you brush his teeth with a different toothbrush. Don't do it for as long as you brush your own teeth. My dentist told me not to use toothpaste until developmentally your child knows how to spit out the toothpaste because you don't want him to swallow the toothpaste.

let him keep doing it but as soon as the tooth brush touches anything but his teeth brushing time is over. water of toothbrush up lights out door closed if he wants to throw a fit thats fine let him do it outside the bathroom. he will learn that its only for his mouth. we went through this too ( i love that my girls want to clean but not with the toothbrush thats in their mouth!)

I bought my 2 year old an electric "Dora" toothbrush. It is more fun than a conventional one and it makes noise (bonus). I sit her on the sink so she can see herself in the mirror and I brush her teeth (I don't let her have control - don't want her to hurt her gums). It helps, but is not the cure all. If you haven't tried one, it might be worth it to make brushing time more fun.

That's why God gave us two sets of teeth, one to learn and practice on, one for keeps! Of course it's good to instill good oral hygiene habits at an early age, but not worth making it a big battle issue. You don't want it to backfire and lead to him never wanting to brush his teeth. Just reinforce brushing keeps the teeth nice and white. Take every opportunity to point out people with yellow teeth, false teeth, fillings and caps, warning him that it happened because that person did not listen to their mommy and brush after every meal. Of course he is too young to understand this now, but eventually it will sink in. Another tactic is to beginning to tell him, (at whatever age you think he will understand) that everytime he eats without brushing his teeth afterwards, he needs to put money (maybe a quarter) into the dentist fund, that he will need to fix his teeth from the damage caused by not brushing. Explain you will not pay his dentist bill (check ups-yes, filings-no)which would have been avoided if you had listened to you.
As I said, at 18 months, he is not capable of understanding or following theses stategies, but by the time it's time for his permanent teeth, he should be able to.
M., momofseven