A few tooth/brushing related questions

MommyToAshley wrote: 1. When is it safe to switch to flouride toothpaste?

2. What do you do when they won't let you help brush? Ashley has stopped letting me help her brush her teeth. It isn't because her mouth hurts any more, it is because she is being stubborn. I know she isn't brushing them that well, she mostly chews on it. How can I get her to let me help bruch her teeth. I tried to let her brush mine and I brush hers, but she wanted to brush them both... LOL

3. When do you take them to the dentist for the first time? I think I read the recommended age was 2. But, I wonder if I should take her earlier since she has all her teeth but the 2 year molars.

chloe&tysmommy replied: I bought a little thing of toothpaste and it said when the child can actually spit the toothpaste out then it should be ok, b/c when they are that little they would just swallow it and they shouldn't....

Chloe won't let me help her either so I'm stumped on that question

I heard they should be 3 yrs old to go to the dentist. My sil took her kids when they turned 3 and the dentist put a protective coating over their teeth to help them from not getting cavities....

kit_kats_mom replied: Katherine won't let me brush her teeth either. I've found that if I let her brush for awhile and get it out of her system, she will let me use the old fingertip brush that I used when she was a baby. She will say AHHHHHHH and let me get to those pearly whites. I have to sing and do a silly dance too though so you might not be up for that.

paradisemommy replied: taven has been great about letting me brush his teeth..looks like i have lucked out..i let him play with/chew on the toothbrush when i am done so that makes him happy. i heard to take them to the dentist when they have most of their teeth..i was planning on taking him when he was 1 but was having problems adding him onto my insurance...i just got it all straightened out though and plan on making an appt. for him within the next couple of months...he has all of his teeth in..i'm not sure what a 2 year molar is but he's had all but the ones next to the bottom 4 teeth and they finally popped out this week..yipee..

kimberley replied: i also heard 3yo for first checkup but my dentist said 5yo unless he has a problem. we didn't start regular toothpaste until they really knew how to brush their teeth. as for not letting you help, i am not too sure. the boys were bad with this too. i tried to make it a fun thing when i was doing it.. sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. if she won't let you help just brush your teeth with her and do what you do for the bath... now the top, now the back, etc. they love to mimic us so it just might work!

good luck. let me know how it goes!

CantWait replied: I heard 3 years old also, and that's when Robbie first went. All they do is look inside their mouth. It's just to get them use to the chair and the lights and such. You should look for a dentist that will show them the instruments to, and what they do and how they sound. Good Luck

Jamison'smama replied: My pediatrician said to use a tiny bit of flouride toothpast now but my dentist said to wait and just use water so I have no idea. I usually just use water but about once a week I add toothpaste (just a smidge).

Also, have any of you taken your kids to the eye doctor? I read that it should be done around 1 year of age. I should have asked my doc when I was in there but forgot.

Kirstenmumof3 replied: It's funny that this should come up! I was just thinking some of the same questions! Can you use toothpaste with them right now? You would think after having 2 older children I would know all of this, but when they were babies they didn't recommend brushing at such a young age. I wish I would have started though, they both have poor brushing habits. Our Dentist has suggested a first dental visit at age 2 and first cleaning around age 3 or 4. When you do bring them in for a first visit, it's mainly to get them used to the office, sitting in the dental chair and to check how the teeth are doing.

aspenblue1 replied: As far as going to the dentist. Since we have a close family friend that is a ped dentist he said 12 months he wanted to see Isabella. So we took her in at 12 months and he gave her crest kids toothpaste. She loves it.

3_call_me_mama replied: Cameron is ADDICTED to brushing his teeth. He cannot even go into the bathroom with out wanting to brush them. In the store we cannot go down that aisle without coming home with a new brush or paste. Aklthough like most of your little ones he doesn't want any help! I'm not too concerned because he drinks a ton of water and brushed them himself AT LEAST 6 times a day. Our ped suggested that he goes at 18 months because he has all his teeth in. He also suggested a natural toothpaste like Tom's of Maine, or the greber stuff. Both are safe to swallow. But he said that we could also wait until 2-3 years if we wanted. The funny thing is that the dentist that we use doesn't see childrne until tey have had their third birthday! Maybe the peds and dentist in our town should get together on this!! (We also have a good friend that's a dentist and suggest holding off on flouride until 3 years because it can damage and discolor their teeth and it's not overly safe for them)

MommyToAshley replied: Ashley currently uses the Gerber or Baby Orajel toothpaste that doesn't contain any flouride too. Thanks for the info, it sounds like there is some disagreement amoung peds/dentists about when to take your child for the first appt.

Wow -- I didn't even think about an eye doctor... how would they even test their vision this young?

Kirstenmumof3 replied:
It's all done electronically now. And I think they use shapes and animals as opposed to numbers and letters.

coasterqueen replied: I can't remember but I think my dentist recommended age 2 for first check-up, but now that I think of it it may be 3. *SIGH* Too much to remember, lol.

As far as brushing, Kylie hasn't let me brush her teeth for a very long time! She is miss independent when it comes to brushing teeth. I've talked to my dentist about this and he gave me a few suggestions like giving her a spin toothbrush, freezing her toothbrush, etc. But none of them worked so he said just let her brush her own and deal with it. So what we do is when it is tooth brushing time all three of us brush ours together. DH at his sink, me at mine, and Kylie in the middle standing on her stool so she thinks she's a big girl looking at the mirror. She looks at us and brushes her teeth. She doesn't do too bad of a job, hope it's good enough. Not much else I could do except hold her down and force brushing her teeth, which would be much worse.

amynicole21 replied: Once in a blue moon Sophia will let me help her brush, but usually not. It takes her forever, but she's mostly just chewing on the brush. I do make sure that she turns the tooth brush over so that she is getting the top and bottom, but I'm sure she isn't doing a great job.

DansMom replied: Yep, Daniel will let me brush just the front of his teeth for ONE SECOND, then he wants to chew on the brush by himself for 10 minutes. And every time we pass the bathroom, it occurs to him that he wants to brush his teeth.

I'm not worrying about it---at first I made a control issue out of it, but that just made me angry and put out, and I didn't want him to get negative associations so I just decided that as time goes on I'll work with him to brush his own teeth properly.

We use the Gerber fruit flavored stuff for now. He doesn't even pretend to spit yet!

I'm glad to have the various info about when to see a dentist. It sounds like the general wisdom is 2-3 years, or when all their teeth are in.

Heather replied: I think you switch over when they are old enough to understand that they are suppose to spit and not swallow the toothpaste!

Alison still lets me brush. We sing a song. I forget what the name is but it goes...When you wake up in the morning and it's quarter to one and you just want to have a little fun, you bursh your teeth...STTT STTT...on so on She loves it! Afterwards, I let her brush by herself. If she tried to take it away, I say "lt Mommy brush first, then you can brush"

We use Gerber toothpaste as well, or Oral B. She sucks it dry so I know she isn't ready for the flouride just yet.

My doc suggested 2 years old, unless they have problems before then.

jem0622 replied: Nathan, who just turned 4, has his first dentist checkup in May. So book early is all I can say! Because you won't get in for almost 6 mos!

Don't ask me about eye doctors. Had to see them all too soon with Nathan b/c of his blocked tear ducts and surgery. I don't know the general age. I never went until I told my parents I was having trouble seeing the board.

Julie

Schnoogly replied: As far as flouride, if you have flouride in your water I'd avoid it in toothpaste. We have some in our water and our filter doesn't filter it out. Iain won't let me use any toothpaste, just water. I'm lucky he stands that. He is starting to let me brush them.

We use only natural toothpastes--I hate the taste of crest/other brands--so will probably get some Tom's children's toothpaste or another natural brand when he's older.

I have heard of 1-2 year olds with multiple cavities, so I guess I'd probably take him to the dentist when he gets all his teeth. He only has 5 right now.