My toddlers won't let me clean their teeth, pls help

[Spooner]

Hi everyone

Much of the time my 20 month old twins won't let me clean their teeth or even get the brush near their mouths. They seem to go through stages when one will let me do it for a couple of weeks but will then refuse it for a spell. I've tried in the bath, brushing mine at the same time and brushing their cuddly toys' 'teeth'. I may be over-reacting but I've started having recurring dreams of their teeth all turning black!

Any tips very gratefully received.

Thanks

[GinaG3]

I've had this for months on end my daughter is 3, I've literally tried everything from electric toothbrushes to bribery, rewarding. Hell, I've even tantrumed myself. It's the most frustrating thing ever. My daughter loved brushing her teeth, very day she leapt to do it, no questions asked then she just stopped. We've been through every character of toothbrush, every design, electric, manual, sparkly, different flavour toothpaste. But now, we're using a flashing toothbrush!! Stocked in tesco it cost ?2 it has a button on it, they press it when they put the toothpaste on then have a good scrub. After 60 seconds the flash stops, meaning they have brushed for a full 60 seconds and 'done a really good job' we all clap and cheer etc and then sometimes our daughter even wants to press the button for round two. It's really been great. I'd recommend to anyone having problems where all else seems to be failing.

Good luck, you have my sympathies. It is very frustrating. I too have had visions of black teeth etc. my next step is to get her to see a dentist. Trying to find peppa pig episode where they visit the dentist.

[prm]

Thanks for the tip GinaG3..I too have the same issue with my 18 month old and the same visions of rotting teeth!

[sunbob]

A tip someone gave me once, which seems quite helpful, is to brush them from behind (eg they could be on your lap facing away from you) because its nicer than someone coming at you from the front poking a toothbrush in your mouth. An idea which my other half came up with which works really well for getting an extra good brush is to remind them of the lovely treat/pudding etc they had today and that they will be able to have treats like that again only if they brush their teeth nicely/are aloud to have treats like that because they do look after their teeth/won't be able to if they don't (whichever angle you prefer

[chantelle]

Just getting the flouride in is a big part of the benefit - if you can even get them to chew on their toothbrush and not rinse!

[Mrs TP]

Oh dear we told child no2 that the Gruffalo came around looking for children who hadn't cleaned their teeth and that he could smell them out. Every night I used to say he is downstairs having a cup of tea with Daddy so hurry up and get on with it. Worked a treat but now I wonder at nearly 8yrs old why does she still have night terrors?

On a more realistic theme mine didn't actually like mint toothpaste and so used to get them strawberry stuff, which gov't recommendations say doesn't contain enough fluoride but the dentist said was fine for introducing the regular brushing action.

All else fails - pin down and just do it!

[Gidget]

Maybe show them some pictures of unbrushed teeth and say this is what happens if you don't brush. Or find a friendly canine with tartar who will oblige.

[olgawaine]

There is no magic toothbrushing trick. Just a bunch of things you can try and hope that one or more of them work. Here's what I've got: Get a fun toothbrush. Kids love cool toothbrushes, and kids love electric toothbrushes. Especially toothbrushes with Dora, Bob the Builder, Cookie Monster, a race car.Get fun toothpaste. Tom's of Maine makes really yummy A cool yummy toothpaste will make the experience more fun, too. Make it a game, pretend she's a lion with big sharp teeth that need to be cleaned. Hope these will help you.

________________________________________________

gym membership adelaide

[Bumpkin]

It is a nightmare, I had well over six months of refusing toddler but it was one thing I wouldn't give in on, I just threatened with no bedtime story and fought him every night until he gave in. Now he's 4, he gets up and goes and brushes his teeth first thing when he gets up in the morning everyday unprompted! Some things are just worth fighting with them for..

[Saffron]

Could they have new teeth coming? This made brushing difficult for my toddler for a long b/c her teeth were very slow to fully errupt. Although even with her teeth now stable, she's still not great at letting me brush them.

I brush my daughter's teeth from behind, usually with her sitting on my lap. I do it while she's watching a little favourite cartoon. (Yes, television has it's uses!). She gets zoned out to Timmy Time etc, and I swoop in with the brush. This is the method I've found best. It's not ideal, but it works at least.

Good luck xx

[Spooner]

Hi everyone

Thank you very much for your replies - none of my friends seem to struggle so it's good to know we are not alone. Many made me laugh out loud. We now have flashing toothbrushes and now 2 sets of clean teeth (well as clean as them chewing the brush gets them but I'm not pushing it to begin with). They were so pleased with them that they insisted on sleeping holding onto them. So far so good but we've got the Gruffalo trick up our sleeves if we need it.