One of our kids has always had issues with teeth. With two baby root canals and and pick decay there are quite a few fillings and caps. I will admit I was not sure how to care for children teeth early on. I remember asking at my first baby shower how to care for baby teeth and no one had a clear answer. I also believe some of her teeth woes may be hereditary, myself and my father have “weak” teeth…. seriously I broke one on a goldfish cracker once and my dad has had multiple issues while eating candy. But as our child’s adult teeth have started coming in we have really dove in to oral hygiene. We have had a few recent dental visits with no issues and we hope it remains that way as long as possible.
Oral hygiene is important at every age and it is important to establish good habits early. You can begin brushing habits with babies and carry on through childhood. Encourage your child to brush properly for at least two minutes and twice a day.
Oral hygiene is important and you may need more details than your dental care provider can give you in a quick visit. Hopefully it is just my Dentist who is sort with answers to all my questions. Here is what we have learned about brushing through digging and asking around.
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When to Start Brushing Teeth
One of the first questions I had when I was thinking about motherhood was when do I start brushing my babies teeth? People laughed and said when they have teeth. But I honestly didn’t know when that would happen either! We had a dental visit at one year and I already felt behind. (Thankfully I feel like we have a pretty good routine now.)
You can start practicing brushing teeth early, right away if you want. Start by rubbing a finger or soft wash cloth over your babies gums to remove the bacteria. This will help set the stage for brushing in the future and will also keep the gums healthy for when teeth do appear. All kids get teeth at different times, some are born with a tooth and others take closer to a year for them to start popping out. For some reason my kids always got two teeth together which made teething rough, but there were also more days between new teeth coming in.
As soon as teeth do appear it’s time to start brushing. You can still wipe them with a wet soft cloth or advance to a finger brush or soft child size toothbrush. At this point just water on the brush will do. They don’t need toothpaste until they are a little older. Get into the habit of brushing twice a day with the last time being after a last meal or before bed. That way food and liquids wont sit on the teeth all night.
How to Brush Your Child’s Teeth
Now that you know when to start (earlier the better) let’s talk about how to brush. I honestly think I have been brushing wrong my whole life. I didn’t realize it until I had to teach someone else!
Whether you are using a damp cloth or a soft toothbrush start by making gentle circles on the sides of the teeth, front and back and a forward and back motion on the top surfaces. Also be sure to brush along the gum line and get the tongue if they allow. You can use toothpaste for children under three but make sure its a very tiny amount. They can’t really spit at this age and will end up swallowing it. I basically just run a brush over the opening of the toothpaste and don’t even squeeze. Our two year old gets more of a hint of toothpaste than actual paste on the brush.
To help your child brush have them sit on your lap or on the counter and angle their mouth down. We want to teach them to let the tooth paste and spit dribble out of their mouth early so when they add more paste they aren’t gagging. If they are sitting on your lap have a wash cloth or paper towel available, if on the counter try to aim dribble in the sink. Once you have finished brushing all the surfaces encourage your child to spit the contents of their mouth out in the wash cloth or sink.
Toothbrushes should be replaced every 3-4 months or when the bristles get frayed. I know one of my kids bites their brush more than they should so we need to replace it pretty often. A good way to remind yourself to replace tooth brushes is to give them as gifts for Easter and Christmas. Usually the holidays are spaced apart pretty well.
Fun Ways to Encourage Tooth Brushing
It is never too early to make brushing and flossing part of the routine. If your child is a little apprehensive or resistant to brushing here are a few ways that you can encourage the habit:
- Brush your teeth with your child. Stand next to them in and look in the mirror. Encourage them to copy all your moves and brush along side of you.
- Practice taking turns with your child. Our youngest is an independent toddler who wants to do everything himself. With brushing he doesn’t really know how to brush effectively yet. We take turns letting him brush and an adult brushing. This way we can ensure all the surfaces are getting brushed and he isn’t just chewing the brush or sucking on the tooth paste.
- Give incentives or rewards for brushing with a good attitude or minimal help. As our kids were more independent and expected to brush by themselves they were more resistant and complained more. Rewards for brushing could be an extra 5 minutes of screen time or getting to choose the next activity to do for the day.
- Use a timer. Get a toothbrush timer that has colorful sand and encourage your child to brush until the sand runs out. Let them pick the color sand to use that day. You can also get toothbrushes with built in timers to help your child brush long enough.
- Make sure to get your child age appropriate toothbrushes, mouth wash and flossers. A small child will get discouraged using a tooth brush meant for an adult because the handle will not be the appropriate size. I also recommend having your child pick out their own brushes and tools so they can pick the color, characters and flavors. Anything to get them a little more excited.
Brushing App
For a while my son hated brushing his teeth. He really wasn’t confident in how to do it and was frustrated by that. Every night before bedtime he would cry when we sent him to brush and being tired only added on to the stress. My sister is an Occupational Therapist and works on tooth brushing with kids all the time. She recommended an app to help him enjoy brushing and it totally worked! The app is called Brush Up the Toothbrush Training Game. Your child brushes along with the song for two minutes. The app videos the child brushing along with Bud as he tells them how and where to brush. Once they are done they get stars if they were brushing correctly according to the song. I love the app because it doesn’t just focus on time, it gives direction and technique. I shared this app with our pediatrician and she even recommend it to a few other families. Check it out and tell me what you think!!
Brushing songs
A great way to encourage brushing is with a fun song your kids will want to watch while brushing. This will hopefully help them have more fun while brushing. These types of songs work wonderfully with my Auditory and Kinesthetic learners.
If your family is a fan of Blippi check out his Tooth Brushing Song –
We love Mother Goose Club over here and the boys love singing and dancing along to the songs. They also have a brushing song!
Good luck brushing with your little ones.