Teeth Brushing Worries

Don't worry...when she about two she should be more receptive to having you help her out. My two year old loves having his teeth brushed...and he lets me take the lead for him.

She is doing fine. I work in the college of dentistry at UF. Its her age and her coordination skills that are probably keeping her from "brushing" like we do. She will catch on when she comes into it. But as long as she enjoys it and isnt afraid of the toothbrush, she is already building good habits.

Hi Karine,
My third daughter is strong willed too! We made a deal, she brushes in the morning & I do in the evening. Also I bought her a timer and rented a movie from the library (Barney) that talked about good hygiene. She might be too young to get the whole thing. It's good that she wants to "brush". Perhaps you can have her brush your teeth too and show her how on you??!!? Best of luck. I'm sure you know not to use a non-florinated tooth paste, as the flourine will discolor her permanent teeth.

Best to you this holiday season,

B. T.
MOM's Green World
www.MomsGreenWorld.com

In the morning and before bed, the kids are allowed to brush their teeth, then Daddy or Mommy gets a turn. In the middle of the day, we just let them do it themselves so they get to practice.

We just had dental visits last month, and the dentist said their teeth and gums look good, so its working for all of us.

I had the same problem with my 2 year old until i made it funny. I would start saying to her "oh, you can't be as silly as mommy" and i would brush my front teeth while making funny monkey noises or weird leg dance. She mimicked me and now that's our routine, we have a silly teeth brushing dance and I manage to get her to brush all the teeth in her mouth.
Goodluck, a lot of patience and toothpaste

I would suggest taking turns. Let her be independent & brush without of toothpaste & then say, "Mom's turn to help you" maybe even having her "help" you when your brush teeth. This way, she will learn the importance of dental hygeine & about sharing! Two for one! When she is a bit older, you can try explaining to her the importance of brushing properly & how the dentist said "Mom must help you brush so we make sure you get your teeth sparkly" I have found with my 2 strong willed girls, they often listen when you tell them it is the advice of another expert (like the doctor said "no more bottles, pacifiers" etc)
Try not to worry....& hope that she is so strong willed when she is a teenager that is being offered something bad for her by her "friends"

Any dentist will tell you that she needs help (all kids do until around age 5, I think it is, or maybe older). Otherwise they don't get cleaned well.
Maybe let her start and when she is finishing up, say, "OOPS! I think I spotted ____ (whoever her favorite character is) back there! Let me see..." Then brush her teeth and all around her mouth - making it fun... tickle her tongue and swish the sides of her mouth too. It is good for her oral hygiene. Then, ask her if she knows how to spit. That is ALWAYS fun for them... you can make it part of the game.. "I think I brushed ____ pretty good, now see if you can spit him out..."
Once she gets into the habit of letting you wrap things up, you can probably drop some of the silliness. But it's fun to keep it up anyway, b/c they enjoy routine and the silliness even when they know what you are going to do/say. In fact, sometimes they enjoy it MORE.
Good luck.
You don't have to "scrub" them, just swish them well a few times. She only has 8, it won't take you very long to clean them properly. Being careful to have the appropriate sized brush and the softest bristles available should help.

My kids were like that and I finally just told them I HAD to brush their teeth. They put up a fight the first few times, but now they know when it's time to brush their teeth they come to me. I usually brush their teeth good then let them finish!

The advice the books give about spoons when they're learning to feed themselves comes to mind - you could let her hold her own toothbrush while you take another and brush properly. Not sure if it will work but maybe worth a try:-)

Hey Karine,
My 19 month old does the exact same thing. What I do is before I give him the toothbrush, I tell him to open wide and then I give him a quick brush. I mean a very quick brush on top and bottom and then I hand the toothbrush to him. I also do this right before we get in the bath tub and let him play with his toothbrush in the bathtub, other wise he will take off running with it and possible fall down and get hurt. You can also try using a wash cloth to brush her teeth and then let her have the tooth brush.

Hope this helps!!
T.

Karine-- my strong-willed son was the same way. Know what finally worked for me? We were dropping the kids off at my sister's one night so we could go out, and my brother-in-law happened to be brushing my nephews' teeth. My son watched, and seemed very interested in the process. My brother-in-law offered to brush my son's teeth, and I wondered how my son would react to that. So we got out his toothbrush, and my son let my brother-in-law brush his teeth-- and I mean really brush them! I was amazed!! After that, he didn't resist having me help. Sometimes kids are much more agreeable with an adult other than a parent! :) Maybe try that? Good luck!

My son was the same way, but I always told him he had to let mommy finish his back teeth for him. He still has to do it himself, but he knows I do it when he's done. My doctor told me that the important thing at this age is just teaching them the habit. So your little gal is doing good.

I let my daughter do her own too (she is 20 months) but then I have to hold her down on the bed and brush them myself. I dont think they can get them clean at all yet until they are much older. Even my older one who is 3 1/2 we still do hers for her.

Hi Karine...I know you have gotten several other, great, responses already, but I thought I'd add my own two cents in too! :) my son is very strong willed, and he loves to brush his teeth. right around the same age as your daughter, he did the same thing, only wanting to do it himself. so, i made a deal with him, and he totally got it! i told him to let me do it first, and THEN he could do it. if he didn't let me do it first, then he wouldn't get to do it at all...which NEVER happened, bc he loves doing it so much! i set up a stool near the sink so he could see in the mirror what i was doing too, so he'd learn how to brush them the correct way. it worked wonders! he is now 2.5 yrs old, and does a great job brushing his teeth, AND still lets me help him first....just an idea! good luck! :)

I have a daughter the same age who also loves her toothbrush and 'brushing' on her own. Our dentist told me that an alternative to brushing at this age is to use a clean wet cloth and rub all of the gum surfaces and all teeth surfaces. This works for us really well during bath time. I look forward to reading the other ideas posted, too!

At this stage, at least she is showing an interested. You can make a game of taking turns tell her, you brush...then count to 10 in a fun voice, then say, MY turn, then count to 10 quickly, then say your turn then count again, etc etc until you feel like you got in there and got a few seconds to really brush. If you miss a few opportunities it's no big deal. She will be fine even just chewing on a toothbrush. I buy those 6 packs of brushes from walgreens for $1 and let them chew on them like teethers. Oh, we also sing the song from Barney, if all the rain drops were lemon drops an gum drops oh what a rain that would be ah ah ah a ah ah ah ah ah...We just hum it sing the ahh ahh part and each time the tune changes we do a different "row" of teeth. It allows a little one to have patients to brush for a whole minute, because the songs not over.

Most of the things kids do won't hurt them seriously. She'll get the hang of it soon enough, don't worry. Try asking her to brush the front, and you do the back, make it a game. Or she do the bottom teeth and you do the uppers. Be patient. Good luck.

Dear Karine,
Good for you that she is interested in brushing at such an early age. I think that's great. How about getting her a little timer, so she knows to brush for the full two minutes (I've seen them at toy stores). When she gets a little older, you can get her a Tooth Tunes toothbrush that will play a favorite song for two minutes while she brushes (they have them in Walmart for $4).
Take care,
L.

YOu need to help her otherwise she will have problems. For my kids I let them either brush first and then I brush them or I brush them first and they brush after. If they refuse as they do sometimes I still brush them with them kicking and screaming. They will have to deal with it because having cavities will hurt compare to them just being mad for a little while.

She's gnawing on the brush, which will get any debris off her teeth. Have you shown her how to floss?
Or maybe an electric brush with a character on it...bottom line: don't worry over the little things.
Take her to the dentist and get her used to semi-annual check ups...I go to a great group of women in Boca...my boys actually look forward to their cleaning!
Best wishes, S.

You have so many different opinions here-- I think the bottom line is how important dental hygene is to you. If you let her continue like this and hope that she'll wake up one morning and magically decide she is no longer going to fight you on this and you are willing to risk the decay in the meantime, then let her continue to do the brushing on her own. I personally don't want to risk it with my kids because you can't turn back time once they have tooth decay, so for all 3 of mine as toddlers I held them down to brush, period. Sorry if they don't like it-- we have plenty of time during the day to do things they like. After I'm done, they can brush on their own for a short period of time and that's it. They have plenty of toys and don't need to play with a toothbrush. Sorry if I sound harsh, but it's something that's important to me. My hygenist told me kids don't have the dexterity to brush well enough on their own until they are about 8-- so I brushed for them until about kindergarten and then started letting them assist more and more until they got to where they can do well enough on their own...... Now if anyone has advice on getting my 10 year old boy to brush without me having to remind him 400,000 times, that would be great!

First of all--kudos with the great dental care. It's great that she wants to brush her teeth on her own! At her age, she is really wanting to be independent and showing it! So here's my advice, let her brush her own teeth, and when she is done say "OK now it's mommy's turn" She may refuse at first, but just keep at it-- you can even let her try to brush your teeth. Taking turns can be fun for toddlers, so make it a game.
Just be persistent, you'll need to "finish" for her until she is 5 or so when she can adequately brush her own teeth. But don't worry if you have nights or periods of times where you can't help her because she refuses--it's the age--she'll let you help soon enough. :)