Brushing a 2 year olds teeth

[TEAK36]

My 2 year old son is an absolute nightmare when it comes to cleaning his teeth.I know it sounds extreme and we really hate doing it, but we have to literally pin him down and force his mouth open to get anywhere near his teeth, and even then we cannot really get a decent amount of brushing done.Obviously he screams his head off and fights us every inch of the way, but we just dont know how to deal with this.We hate seeing our son upset like this, and it also upsets us to see him like this.There are now signs of tartar on his two front teeth and we are worried that if we do not find a way of brushing his teeth properly, he will end up with bad teeth.We have tried making a game of it, but he simply fights it all the way.Please can anyone offer any advice on how to deal with this.We also have a 4 year old son who is the complete opposite and loves cleaning his teeth.

[jackie0]

Hi there, I have exactly the same problem! My lil' boy is also 2. I am looking fwd to hearing any advice too from experienced people.

Was your 4-yr old also like that when he was 2?

[jmahdavi]

have you tried buying him a tooth brush of his own for him to play with?

This may show him there is nothing to worry or be scared about.

[Sparkles3]

We have same situation with our (nearly) 2 year old daughter, but never had the problem with our 3 and a half year old. Sometimes my daughter will cooperate and other times she won't. She has chosen her toothbrush and is sometimes allowed to put the toothpaste on, allowed to brush them herself afterwards etc - all of which work sometimes but not every time. What works best in our house is to help my son with his first, praising him and having a game with him (we do aaaaahhhhhhh and eeeeeee noises for mouth open and teeth together respectively). My daughter is then keen to copy (although not every time!!) Another thing that tends to work is after a bath, I wrap her in a towel on the floor and she is normally happy to have her teeth cleaned then.

A few ideas of how we do it - but I freely admit they don't work all the time and I sometimes have to resort ot the 'holding her down' approach, as upsetting as this is for us all.

Good luck.

[yinyang]

We've found that our two love having their teeth done with the electric toothbrush.At first I was worried it would be too powerful for them but the dentist said it was fine as long as we went gently.
I also find that if I gently but firmly hold their chin and look into theie eyes while singing to them they don't seem to notice what I'm doing.Sounds daft,I know, but it works.
It might also be an independence thing - maybe he wants to do it himself . My two used to be like this and we made a deal that I could do it for a minute or two then they could 'finish it off' or vice versa.Either way it gave me the chance to have a good scrub at them and they still felt happy that they had done it themselves.
Good luck.Remember none of these phases last forever!(Although it can feel like it)

[Catso]

Well, personally speaking, I can't stand the taste and smell of mint and hence I really dislike the majority of toothpastes.
Have you tried different 'flavours' of toothpaste? Or not using toothpaste at all? (Just to get him used to it; a brush without paste is better than non)

[jackie0]

Someone advised us to use salt, but I was reluctant as I think I heard that its not good for kids (their kidney or something).

Anyone know if that's true?

[jmahdavi]

You should NOT use salt to brush your childs teeth. Adults should only intake aroung 6/5grams of salt per day. children it is around 1gram.

You should not give children and food with added salt either.

The salt can cause distended kidneys and blood vessels.

more advice on salt can be found here:

http://www.foodcomm.org.uk/salt_may_03.htm

[mum to be]

Hi just trying to give some tips here, Im a mum with 2 boys 2 and 3 I find I have problems getting right up the back teeth as he doesent open wide enough or for long enough but I get him to sing out loud like ah ah la la and play a game while cleaning teeth have fun , The hardest is stopping them from sucking on the tooth brush and clenching teeth together makes it hard to get in to clean teeth try and have fun maybe let him have a go see how much a big boy he is or clean your teeth with him aswell ,good luck from an aussie mum

[jackie0]

Thanks jm. Gosh, sounds scary, will not use salt.

[Hellion]

My son is now 8 but I had the same problem too. I let him choose his own brush, I bought one as did several memebers of the family so he had 6 toothbrushes I also bought 3 different toothpastes and the let him choose brush and paste each day. Toddlers are often trying to assert independence and giving them 'choice' makes them think they are in control. It works with other difficult things too like not putting on shoes or coat. Stickers and a reward are always good, but of course NONE of this is guaranteed!!!

[dancecaller]

Here, here. When my youngest was 2 preparing to go out went something like "Do you want THIS coat? Ok then, you can have that one. I need the loo. Oh you've got there first"