When Did You Stop Brushing Your Child's Teeth?

We brush their teeth in the evening and they brush their own teeth in the morning. They get great kudos from their dentist every 6 months. They are 5 and 7 years old. I won't let them brush totally on their own unless I know they are getting all of the hard to reach places.

I used to be a dental assistant and can assure you there is no magic age at which you should stop helping your children take care of their teeth. It depends on how well they can do it on their own. I have an 8 year old who still needs supervision, but my 4 1/2 year old and my 10 year old are fine on their own. Every child is different, just make sure you keep instilling good brushing habits, and before you know it, they won't need your help anymore.

Good luck!
A. (SAHM of almost 4 boys - 10, 8, 4, and one due end of October)

I suggest that your 4 year olds should be capable of flossing and brushing. I would vote on watching them do it, and showing them how to do a better job if they need to. By 5 years of age I would think that they should be capable of doing it by themselves....

I have heard/read from my dentist you need to assist them until they are about 7 years of age.

I have two children; 4 and 2 years old. They get a turn brushing their teeth and then I get a turn. Our dentist told me that by the time they are 8, if I've done a good job teaching them, they should be able to handle it on their own. That seemed older than I would have thought. I certainly don't remember my mother brushing my teeth, so I figure I must've been pretty young when she stopped. Not sure if this was helpf, since I haven't reached to point of stopping yet.

Age 6 is when my kids brushed on their own but before that point, I always watched to make sure they did a good job by themselves. My youngest is 5 and he is close to doing a really good job by himself. He does it by himself in the morning and at night but then I do it at night after him. He wants to do it by himself only but I said he had to wait until he is 6 just like his siblings did...Hope that helps!

Well, I stopped brushing my kids' teeth when they were each about 5, BUT DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID!!!

I thought that my kids had great hygeiene, they brush every morning and night. They floss every night. They rinse with mouthwash every night.

Things went fine for my older daughter, but not so with my younger. Apparently her teeth are really cramped. I didn't realize that she wasn't getting the floss all the way down in between the teeth. I don't think that my older one has been doing this either.

I just went to the Dentist this last tuesday - and I found out that my older daughter has 2 cavities. My younger - 4 cavities and also she'll need 2 BABY ROOT CANALS!!!! I feel terrible.

The hygienist gave me the following advice: let your kids brush their teeth on their own for 2 minutes. Then YOU floss. And YOU brush their teeth - for about 30 seconds - making sure to get all of the teeth. Then, have them rinse with ACT (this is the BEST brand for preventing cavities) for a whole minute. Make sure they don't have anything to eat/drink for at least 45 minutes after the mouthwash. (we do that the LAST thing at night.)

Anyways. it sounds like a lot of work, and it does take a few minutes, but I wish I'd been doing it earlier. It would have saved me at least $800 (and that's AFTER insurance).

Good luck.
C.

I'm still brushing my 7 year olds teeth, although she does most of it herself. After she is finished she comes to me or dad for a good once over and to check out her efforts. She had been doing it independently earlier this year, but had a lot of deposits that required scraping at her last cleaning and now needs her first filling, so were back to helping her out a bit. I hope this helps!

I brushed them twice daily for them until they were age 4, after 4 years old I brushed them once daily (at night) and they did the morning brush until about age 6 when they took over themselves.

However, my daughter (age 5) is now brushing on her own twice daily thanks to that blue stuff that you can buy at the store. The kiddos swish with it before brushing and it sticks to plaque and the kids have to brush until there is no blue left in their mouth. My kids love it!

My daughter's dentist told me to help her until she was 5 or 6

I have a 6 and 8 year old and I still brush their teeth in the evening. I let them do it in the morning. I must say I goggled this because I thought it was strange I still did theirs. Now I think I'm doing ok. Their teeth are perfect. No cavities on either and are learning good habits. Flossing, brushing tongue etc.. I let my 8 year old brush mostly on her own just giving her a once over mostly because if I don't my 6 year old gets annoyed I do her and not her big sister. I think when my younger one turns 8 i'll stop but monitor until I don't have to pay bill

Hi T D

Well my sister stopped brushing her daughters between 4-5yrs old. She thought her daughter was able to a good enough job. That was a bad idea! Her daughter has had so much work down on her teeth because of cavities, she has a crown and lot's of other metal stuff in their(not sure what all was done) but it started out with cavities that just got to bad. My sister had such an awful time putting her daughter through all that dental work. Anyway, I have a 2yr old and 5yr old. I let the 5yr old brush her teeth while I brush my 2yr olds, then I will go over my 5yr olds just to make sure we got everything. I took them to the dentist a month ago and asked them if I should let my 5yr old brush her teeth by herself yet. They said no, and told me I was doing the right thing by letting her do it herself then finishing it up. I don't know when they should do it by themselves but according to my kids dentist, 5yrs is to young. Hope that helps.