Your Dental Tips

hiya,
(I'm pretty sure the D stands for darling. ie darling son)

We dont have much luck with teeth brushing on our 14mth old. I often brush my own teeth at the same time, but that makes no difference apart from her enjoying eatching me while she sucks on her own brush. Might try some kiddy toothpaste or an electric brush and see how we go....

hi all,
my daughter(3) loves brushing her teeth more so now that i let her pick the toothbrush and the toothpaste. only problem is now everytime we go shopping wants new brush and paste!!!
she been doing her own teeth since about 10mths by sucking it in the bath then letting me do it. at around 26mnths she started refusing the toothbrush and we just kept on it with doing at same time etc.
read a few mums with electric brushes was thinking of asking santa for one are they any good??
liz

Been really good reading through all these posts! my 2yr old daughter is terrible and looses it everytime i try and brush her teeth for her! she demands to do it, and will only chew on the brush! even though she has watched us from a young age, she just refuses to let anyone in her mouth! Think i will try an electric brush after hearing that others have had success with that smile)

Hi All, just wondering my 23 month old brushes his teeth with water as he won't spit it out, is this ok or should i be using toothpaste anyway?
Thanks...

My dentist told me never to use toothpaste with kids unless they can spit it out. He said water is just fine until they can do so. However I have bought natural toothpaste from the health food shop which is safe enough for them to digest. So I use a natural toothpaste for my 2 and half year old until the time comes when he can spit out properly.

We started giving our son his baby toothbrush as soon as his first teeth appeared. He would just chew on it at first. Now we say "time to brush your teeth" and go to the bathroom but we try to make it fun. He likes to look in the mirror and copy us while we brush our teeth. We always make a big deal and praise him when he brushes his teeth well. We make the "chh chh" sound and imitate brushing our teeth. He also watches the Wiggles dvd that has the brushing your teeth song on it so we pull his toothbrush out and he copies them. Trying to teach him to spit the baby toothpaste out now which is just hilarious! It is not his favourite thing to do when he is tired but it is all about consistency & routine with him. We also get him to drink water after his meals where possible. I think it is all about installing good habits from a very young age.