Children's Toothpaste

Hi S.,
Please look at my profile for my experience in the dental field. Are you giving your daughter fluoride supplements or live in an area that has fluoridated water? If so, I would switch to a fluoride free toothpaste, preferably one with xylitol. (Go to www.xylitol.org for the dental benefits of xylitol) I use Oral-B Baby toothpaste for my 2 1/2 yr old daughter. There aren't health risks if she swallows toothpaste with fluoride but it can cause fluorosis, chalky white marks, on her permanent teeth. I would wait until she is able to spit it out. Same goes for fluoride mouthwashes. If you are giving her a fluoride supplement, make sure she doesn't consume dairy 1 hour before or after as it is much less effective. Email me if you have questions.
Sincerely,
L.

Hi S.,

I'm so glad your daughter enjoys brushing her teeth. Spitting out the toothpaste has been a tough one at our house too. My daughter LOVES Koala Pals apple flavor training tooth gel. I order it online from Melaleuca. It contains no flouride, uses natural ingredients ....xylitol. I usually buy some for her friends as well since it has been such a big hit with everyone.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

L.

My children (4 and 6) don't spit either. What I do is only put a bit of toothpaste on their brush (enough to spread around their teeth, about half-a-pea size), and since the packages say not to swallow more than the amount used for brushing, I figure we are just fine. I wouldn't worry about it if you are using a small amount.

I use Orajel toddler Traing Toothpaste safe to swallow and fluoride free. My daughter was actually getting breakouts in her mouth from an ingredient in regular toothpaste. She grew out of it though. You can find this at Walmart for 3 bucks in the toothpaste section:)

just make sure you are using flouride free touthpaste...flouride is not good for us and should not be used...do some research and it will be clear on why...there are too many reason to list here. other than her swallowing it isn't a big deal if it is flouride free.

There is probably not much to worry about, BUT, my kids use Weleda toothpaste for children that has no fluoride or sodium lauryl sulfate and is all natural. If my little ones were swallowing, I would definitely want them swallowing all natural stuff rather than some of the chemicals they have in most toothpastes (even Tom's of Maine has sodium lauryl sulfate which is known to cause skin irritation and canker sores.)
I seem to remember my eldest had a fondness for eating toothpaste when she was about 3 (which at the time was Tom's of Maine) and she came out O.K.

Hi S., I had the same issue with my youngest (she is almost 3) but then I discovered a way to make her spit it out. Do you ever watch Sprout TV? If so, they have this (kind of dopey) evening program that starts around 3pm, where they have this Star puppet who sings a song about brushing its teeth. Anyhow, the song ends with "...and then you SPIT... and that's IT!"

So we began singing this silly song and our daughter looks forward to spitting at the right moment in the song when she brushes her teeth. Now she spits with great flourish, and usually even makes it into the sink (occasionally onto the mirror though... I can't wait to give this kid watermelon this summer, lord help us all!)