Toddler son hates having his teeth brushed...update

WestonDave

Slightly left field thought but maybe fun toothbrushes? I'd even go as far as suggesting the disposable battery ones Colgate (I think it is) do - our two have those and because of the assistance in brushing from the electric brush can be given more independance. We've also had ones with removable elephant head covers over the brush.

pinkshoes

We let our 25 month old choose his own tooth paste, and he tends to chew rather than brush. He does let a puppet hold the toothbrush and brush them nicely, but won't let me do it.

brook2jack

A couple of general points as tooth decay is the number one cause for children needing a hospital bed in the UK and roughly 50% of five year olds have decayed,missing or filled teeth.

The toddler who willingly lets you brush their teeth all the time hasn't been invented! Persevere but it's perfectly normal to have a storm every now and again.

No child can effectively brush their teeth until they are about eight so you always have to go over them yourself. Stand behind them or have them sit on your lap facing away from you, much easier and they feel less constricted.

Don't let a child put on their own toothpaste. They need no more than a smear and eating too much toothpaste can permanently discolour adult teeth.

Most children's toothpastes contain less fluoride than adults so they should be on an adult toothpaste by the age of two or three. AldI do herbalux, Tesco do a strawberry adult toothpaste, and Daywood and tanner brand toothpastes come in lemon and assorted flavours. I think superdrug may do an adult non minty flavour and health food shops stock Tom's of Maine toothpastes but make sure you get fluoride containing toothpaste.

Unless they have been prescribed it no child should use a mouthwash, and they should spit not rinse so fluoride remains in contact with the teeth.

Finally talk to your dentist about diet, the average person in the UK eats seven times a day. Eat or drink something starchy/sugary and you will get decay no matter how well you brush teeth. 95% if dental treatment is utterly avoidable. Good luck.

lilymay1

brook2jack wrote: »

Most children's toothpastes contain less fluoride than adults so they should be on an adult toothpaste by the age of two or three.

That is exacty the opposite to what my dentist advised me :undecided.

Some months ago, the health visitor told me I should be using an adult toothpast with DS (now 14 months) ...and when I mentioned it to my dentist she said too much fluoride is worse than not enough, so told me to keep using a children's one until he is 7 or 8.

And that statistic about hospital beds is shocking :eek:

marisco_2

sulkisu wrote: »

I assume (or at least I hope) that this is a common problem, and just wondered if anyone has found a solution that works.

It is a very common problem. My two boys were exactly the same. Time, oodles of patience and perseverance pay off in the end. My two now happily brush their teeth morning and night now. They are 10 and 7 and have been doing this by themselves for the last couple of years. Clean bill of health from the 6 monthly dental check up so they appear to know what they are doing.

Both of mine also use to scream blue murder whenever I washed their hair. So much so that one summer day a neighbour jumped our back fence, ran in through the patio doors and dashed into our bathroom to find out what the hell was going on. Flaming nutter! Actually that was a turning point though. Having this hyper panicked woman seeing them in the nud crying and tantruming, was enough humiliation to make my two button it and just get on with a hair wash from then on in :rotfl::D

brook2jack

lilymay1 wrote: »

That is exacty the opposite to what my dentist advised me :undecided.

Some months ago, the health visitor told me I should be using an adult toothpast with DS (now 14 months) ...and when I mentioned it to my dentist she said too much fluoride is worse than not enough, so told me to keep using a children's one until he is 7 or 8.

And that statistic about hospital beds is shocking :eek:

You should always follow a professionals advice rather than what is published on the internet.They know your history and if fluoride is in your water supply.

However the thinking behind my advice is a general review of all research on dental disease called the Cochrane report showed children's toothpastes did not have enough fluoride in them to prevent decay. However the enamel on front teeth is developing up to the age of two to three. Too much fluoride before this age can disccolour the front teeth ,after this age the adult from teeth are already formed so there is not such a problem. Therefore use the weaker children's toothpaste up to two or three then change to adult toothpaste because dental decay is still a big public health problem.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1244759/Normal-childrens-toothpaste-strong-prevent-tooth-decay-study-finds.html

fluoride can be controversial hence some of the interesting responses to the article.

sulkisu

Thank you for the replies so far. Maybe I am taking it too seriously but I would no sooner go without brushing his teeth than I would my own. At baby clinic a number of mum's said that as these are only baby teeth and they are going to lose them anyway, they don't bother too much - ugh.
He doesn't mind the minty taste, in fact he seems to quite like it, but I will try some other flavours to see if they help. I might also give the battery operated toothbrushes that WestonDave suggested, a try.

I did try brushing them while he was in the bath, not a good idea for us - he could have drowned, bless him.

Brook2jack, are you a dentist?

brook2jack

Well I could tell you that I am, but the problem is you have no way of checking that, other than to see most of my posts are dentally related.

Anything I post or anyone posts on the internet should in no way supersede your own dentists advice.

I hear theyre only baby teeth argument alot. The last baby teeth are lost at age 10 to 12 ish. If they are lost too early the space for adult teeth closes up and causes all sorts of problems. Let alone the fact adult teeth come through at six ish and by then you are leaving it late to change oral hygiene and diet.

There is little more heartbreaking than sending a two year old for a general anaesthetic to have all their teeth removed, other than the fact that two year old is statistically likely to keep on losing teeth all through their life because the changes in diet and oral hygiene probably won't be made.

valk_scot

TBH diet is just as important as tooth brushing, so be careful with that as well. My DD was intolerant to cows milk so drank unsweetened soya milk instead. No-one told me that soya milk contains higher levels of fluoride than cows milk though so guess what? She's got fluoride mottling on her front teeth now. On the other hand her teeth are great in all other respects as are her older brother's. (They're 11 and 16). The mottling is not bad, the dentist said it will fade a bit in time too. If that's the worst that ever happens to her teeth it's no big deal. But watch out for excess fluoride sources in the diet, we have fluoride in the water here plus I used fluoride toothpastes as they got older. The older child was fine btw, mo mottling. It was definately the soya milk.

They did get sweets and sweet things but not to excess, also I was quite keen on the old fashioned technique of getting them to rinse out their mouths with plain water after eating sweet foods or drinking fizzy drinks or fruit juice. This is easy to do as you just sloosh the water round your mouth and drink it down so you can do it anywhere. and water was their main drink.

As for toothbrushing, I got them to do it themselves. I was very fond of these plaque disclosing tablets, we used them once every fortnight or so and it really helped them realise how carefully they had to brush. I don't belive in scrubbing madly away for one minute btw, especially on the same easy to reach surfaces. Children have soft enamel and little teeth, you can do more damage by being rough. Gentle but careful is better.

The 16 year old says he's the only child in his class of thirty two that hasn't needed any dental work btw. My DD is almost the same. Must have done something right!

brook2jack

unfortunately soya milk is also very high in natural sugars, and the fluoride content is still low compared to toothpaste. Many foods,drinks have natural high fluoride levels, water obviously but tea is highest in fluoride along with eggs,spinach,beef,lamb, most vegetables particularly those grown in high fluoride containing soils.

Fluorosis is very hard to diagnose, white spots could just as easily be hypoplastic spots which are caused by traumas such as infections, baby illnesses ,difficult births, problems in development last few months in womb or first year of life. http://cyberdentist.blogspot.co.uk/2006/08/white-spots-on-teeth-enamel-hypoplasia.html

My daughter has white spots on her teeth at the point which developed around birth. She was born with a hole in the heart and this disturbance caused the white spot.

There is no definitive way to absolutely state the cause of white spots on teeth'.

Dental fluorosis such as you see in Africa and elsewhere with very very high levels of fluoride in water many times in excess of UK limits, is unmistakable brown ,yellow discoloration and badly formed enamel.

the link has six pictures in a line. The top three are fluorosis the bottom three are not. But they look very similar.http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dental+fluorosis&view=detail&id=098098220A121A5A5C9AAD0F9BB0FB714666FC1F