Hello,

Does anyone have any experience or advice related to brushing an infant's teeth?

My son is one year old, has nine teeth, and has been eating solids for about six months. I know he's still pretty young, but we want to build good tooth brushing habits early. We have a little baby toothbrush (the latex type that slips over your index finger) that we try to use to brush his teeth. When we do this, he clamps his mouth shut, arches his back to move his head away, and tries all other manner of resistance.

We also have one of those little baby toothbrushes, the kind that have two handles that the baby can use himself - when we give it to him, he chews on it a little bit but soon discards it in favor of another toy.

When were you guys able to brush your infant's teeth? How did you finally get your baby to let you do it? Portland is one of the few major cities that does not fluoridate its water so I am concerned about giving my little guy a head start in the dental health category.

Roger

I always held my son on my hip so that he could see both of us in the mirror behind the sink. I would do all of the faces first like showing my teeth and then opening wide. He would mimic me, and he enjoyed seeing us do the same thing in the mirror. I would also let him "brush his teeth" first. This mostly consisted of him chewing on the toothbrush, but after a minute or so, I would go in and actually brush them. It seemed to work because neither one of my kids will go to bed now unless they have already brushed their teeth. They even look forward to it a little. My son is now 2, and he does a very good job of brushing his teeth every night.

On the subject of toothpaste, we didn't use any when they were that young. Fluoride, in excess, is never good, and it was very difficult to find a fluoride free kids' toothpaste (although they do exist). Plus, most of the kids' toothpastes are so full of sugar to make them taste good that I'm sure they do more harm than good. They do use toothpaste now, but we try to keep an eye on them because my son does have the habit of trying to eat it. If that's the case, dairy products neutralize the Fluoride in the stomach pretty effectively.

I hope this helps.

militarydadblog.com

From the video library:

First trip to the dentist

Tooth Maintenance

It Hurts to Be a Dentist (Owen Music Video)

Met Natalee of Baby Banana Brushes at the Kids Expo. They have cool silicone toothbrushes. They created them originally to help prevent injuries from kids falling with their brushes in their mouth.

www.babybananabrushes.com/

They gave me a shark brush. TheBoy is really too old to be using it on a regular basis, as he has a mouth full o' choppers now, but he digs it. He uses it every once in awhile. (He's almost 4.) We don't have the problem of him chewing on it now, just sucking the "Dora" toothpaste off before actually brushing his teeth. But we started with with the finger brushes too and then a really soft brush. We didn't have too many problems with getting bit, but I think that's fairly normal. I bet as your son gets older he'll start wanting to brush his teeth.

When he was able to really start the process, we started with "CheeseFace" or "E-face" (Big toothy grin) and "Let me brush first, then your turn." I'd brush his teeth first then help him hold the brush and try to help him brush the back teeth. His turn usually turned into him just sucking what gel was left and licking the brush... but as does happen, his desire to be independent quickly took hold and he demanded that he could do it "all by myself." And he now starts with "CheeseFace" and scrubs pretty well (for a toddler).

His first dentist appointment is in January. I'll be sure to post up how that goes.

Thanks for your input, guys.

Sometimes I wonder if we're trying to start this process too early. Our son is only twelve months old. Developmentally he seems not yet a toddler, more like an infant who has yet to reach toddler-hood. He's not yet walking or talking.

On the other hand, he's got a mouth full of teeth, and we want to teach him to take care of them.

At the moment, we're going with MilitaryDad's suggestion, and doing the monkey-see-monkey-do routine. Mostly this boils down to us enthusiastically brushing our teeth with his toothbrush, rinsing it off, and then attempting to brush his teeth while he clamps his mouth shut.

All in good time, I guess.

Roger

"Monkey-see, monkey-do" did the trick! My son is now using a toothbrush - within the capabilities of a 13 month old, which means his technique involves more chewing than brushing. But he will use it when we give it to him, especially if we give it to him while we're brushing our teeth.

(It was my wife who got him to pick up the technique. I know we're all about Dad Power on this site, but in my household, the anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better balance of power often tilts in Mom's direction. I guess there's a reason grown men don't get a "Dad" tattoo on their bicep)

In our case, we are able to brush our son teeth by giving him something to play on his hands, so his attention is on the toy and we're able to brush his teeth. We also play with him to set his mood before brushing his teeth.

it is not easy brushing the child, but I tried to persuade him to my kids want to brush your teeth. and now my children have started to brush her ​​teeth often.
sorry if my english is not good.

regards

Our son is 13 months now, & we took him to a pediatric dentist last month. She gave us some really good advice. She said the finger brushes don't do anything, so don't bother. She recommended that we make it fun--which we are doing--by brushing our teeth with him so he wants to mimic the behavior. Right now he thinks it's funny when we try to brush his teeth.

Sometimes he insists on brushing my teeth first, which is pretty funny overall, but it gets him to engage & enjoy it.

She also suggested that we lie him down to brush his teeth, & though it seems odd, it works very well. We just put him on his back on our bed, & then gently brush his teeth. Sometimes we play with him too. She recommended using a very gentle circular brushing technique, especially on the top front teeth, b/c the little flap that attached the gum to the upper lip is pronounced in babies, it can easily be hurt. Take a look & you'll see it too.

Regarding fluoride, we had been giving him .5 tsp each day, b/c we have well water that is not fluoridated. She recommended that we stop until we test the water, b/c a lot of well water in Maine is naturally fluoridated. Turned out our well water fluoride levels are low, so we're going back to the drops until he's old enough for toothpaste. [2 years, I think]