Conference moira::parenting_v3

    I gave my kids toothbrushes after meals while they were in their
    highchairs - just to get them used to the feel of one.  When our foster
    baby went to the pedi at 15 months - the doctor said it's time to start
    brushing his teeth.  I didn't hear this with my two, but then I did
    have a different pedi with them at that age.  
    
    Wouldn't hurt to give her one so she can get the hang of it.  You may
    find you'll have to brush them for her and now is a good time to start.
    
    -sandy
    
    

    David at 18 months likes brushing his teeth (no toothpaste, just
    water) and does a pretty good job.
    
    --bonnie

    
    Jason (19 months) has been chewing on his toothbrush since his first 
    birthday.  He always wants to do his "teeeeef" whenever we are 
    brushing but mostly just chews the paste off the brush - a very
    small amount since swallowing toothpaste is not good for them.
    We'll continue to do the actual brushing for him until he does
    them well on his own (I always ask him to brush, but most of the
    time he doesn't do a very good job).   Our pedi asked about it at
    his 18-month checkup.
    
    So, no, I don't think it's too early (or too late for that matter!)
    to get Daniela started on brushing her own teeth.
    
    cj/

    My pedi recommended that toothbrushing start soon after first
    birthday.  We get special "bubble gum" flavored toothpaste
    since she doesn't like the "spicy" flavor of Mom and Dad's.
    
    Our dentist just confirmed our suspicion that Mom or Dad should
    do a thorough brushing about once a week, but it's ok for the
    child to brush (as best they can) each day.  Builds good hygiene
    habits, etc....
    
    Sarah loves to go around the house making us "react" to the
    sparkles coming from her mouth after she brushes.  "You better
    put your sunglasses on Dad!  My teeth are really sparkly!"
    
    Diana

    Well, Sam just turned six and I still have a turn with the tootbrush!
    He has very bad teeth so I try as best as I can to make sure that we
    don't leave anything in his mouth that should not be there.
    
    We've been letting him brush his teeth, then whomever is supervising
    the brushing takes a quick look and brush.  He doesn't seem offended
    and he [[[knows]]] that he does not like to have the dentist fill a
    cavity!
    
    So I let your daughter brush, then mummy has her turn.  (I also would
    let Sam have a turn brushing my teeth when he was smaller - fair is
    fair!)
    
    Regard,
    
    Kathy
    

    I remeber an article in Parents magazine that said as soon as the first
    tooth erupts you should start "cleaning them".  The article suggested a
    gauze wrapped finger wiping off the first tiny teeth, or even one of
    the baby face cloths.  Then it suggested giving them a toothbrush to
    chew on, say after dinner while they're still in the highchair.  The
    bottom line was "it's never too early to start good dental hygene".
    

    My hairdresser gave her baby daughter a toothbrush to chew on during
    diaper changes.  Another type of hygiene. . .
    
    A six-year-old friend received flavored dental floss and special
    toothpaste from Santa.  He thought that was just dandy.  

re: .5, taking turns

A variation we use with our son is that he brushes his teeth by himself in the 
morning, and we brush his teeth at night.  That way he still gets the 
opportunity to do it by himself, but we still can ensure that his teeth get 
brushed WELL at least once a day.  This has been an on-again -- off-again 
procedure, depending on the dental hygienists evaluation of how good a job is 
being done.  If his teeth look good, then he does it both times himself.  But 
if at the next exam his teeth do not look good, then we do it once a day, 
until the next exam.

Clay

    I have read a few articles on this subject, and between what I have
    read and what my sons pedi tells me, you are suppose to start brushing
    your teeth as soon as you get them.  My son has just gotten his fisrt
    two teeth this past month.  I wet the tooth brush and give it to him a
    couple of times a day while changing his diaper. (I have found he
    doesn't squirm as much)  He chews on it and according to the pedi, for 
    now that will work just as well as having me brush them for him.  
    Tooth decay can start from day one, why not brushing?
    
    (just check the tooth brush for loose brissles)
    
    Kathy

    A few questions:
    
    What is so bad about swallowing toothpaste?  How do you teach them
    to rinse and spit the toothpaste out?  My son loves to brush, and wants
    toothpaste like the grownups, but he just doesn't seem to understand
    about spitting it out.
    
    Deb

    
    I believe that too much flouride (as in ingesting toothpaste that
    has flouride in large amount since it considered a topical 
    preparation) has been linked to some types of cancer.   Can 
    anybody fill in the details?
    
    Carol

    I don't believe that .11 is true.  I think it's misinformation
    that's been propagated by the people who think flouridating public
    water is a communist plot to control the country. 
    
    My experience is that some kids (Kat and Steven both) could swallow
    enough toothpaste to make them sick. . . nothing major.
    
    --bonnie

    Our dentist told us the reason kids should not use flouride toothpaste
    is that with the local water being flouridated and kids swallowing
    toothpaste they get too much flouride, which causes white spots
    in their teeth.  We were able to find unflouridated toothpaste 
    (pretty difficult to find, believe it or not!) and Joshua--22 months
    brushes with that.  He does a fairly good job himself but usually
    once a day we chase the animals around his mouth with a toothbrush
    (suggested somewhere in notes and it works great!!).
    
    Pam

    My daughter's pediatric dentist suggest some type of adult "help" with
    brushing until the child is about 6.  Apparently, the kiddos are not
    really inclined to do a thorough job before then.  My older daughter
    brushes her teeth herself and then mom, dad, or the nanny follow up.  
    
    Elizabeth started rinsing and spitting somewhere between 18 months and
    2 years...I think.  It wasnt' really a big deal teaching her; she just 
    watched her parents.  Her spitting skill came along right around the
    time she learned to blow her nose.    
    
    My younger daughter is just a few days shy of a year and I've already
    started brushing the few teeth she has.  She laughs hysterically; I
    guess it tickles her.
    
    Hopefully, my daughters will avoid the major dental work that has
    befallen their mom.  Floridated water and preventative dental care
    should make a difference.  
    
    LZP
    

Toothpaste usually contains saccharin.  Saccharin has been linked to cancer.
The reason toothpaste doesn't have a warning label and "Sweet and Low" does
is that people are assumed not to swallow toothpaste.

    According to my pedi dentist, a parent should brush children's teeth
    until about 6.  (I agree with previous note).  The reason is they
    simply cannot get the toothbrush to do a thorough job themselves.  So,
    the nighltly struggle goes on with me brushing, and they laughing,
    gigling, and generally giving me a hard time about brushing their
    teeth!
    

    
    We started brushing Juli's teeth shortly after her first "two teeth"
    came through ... just a dab of toothpaste on a small kid's toothbrush.
    We made it part of tub-time, so she could brush and dribble all she
    wants ... then we'd take over and do a good brushing with the
    "remaining" toothpaste (on her brush or in her mouth).
    
    Juli's Pedi gave us flouride drops to use in Juli's water, since we
    always use "bottled" water for drinking ... and Juli never was a BIG
    water drinker, so she never got an abudance of flouride.  Our dentist
    commended us for brushing her teeth SO EARLY and told us to stop
    using the flouride drops now that she gets toothpaste daily ... but
    he said "sometimes" too much flouride will upset their stomachs (not
    sure he mentioned spots, tho).  Our Pedi also mentioned "brushing" 
    (but I think it was more like 12 months - not 18 months ... but I 
    could be wrong -- didn't matter since we were already "brushing" 
    anyways).
    
    Juli also gets her vitamin during tub-time, too ... as she often
    removes it from her mouth a dozen times before it's dissolved ...
    slobbering that down her belly, too!  YUucCCK!
    
    Add the toothpaste dribbles, vitamin drippings and daily dirt and
    SHE definately needs a good scrubbing in the tub!
    
    Just my 2 cents!
    Dottie
    

We just went to our first dental checkup (Kati is 2 now), and our dentist
said to NOT let her swallow flouride because the water system here has ample
flouride already, and too much flouride will stain her teeth (sometimes
bright white, sometimes yellow, and sometimes marble).  They also recommended
brushing with just a small dab of toothpaste, about the size of a b.b.

Also, remember that it is more important to brush the GUM LINE than the
actual tooth.  The gum line should be brushed on both the outside and
inside of the teeth.

Our dentist recommended that I brush her teeth at least once a day, and let
her brush it the 2nd (or more!) time.  They also showed me "the best" (doesn't
everyone have the answer?) way to brush it.  She lays down on the floor in
front of me with her head in my lap (or almost in my lap) and opens her mouth
wide.  Then I can see every nook and cranny in her mouth and brush it.  Until
she can spit, I am supposed to wipe the toothpaste back out with gauze or a
wet rag.  She would have never allowed me to do this, except that THE DENTIST
(all powerful as far as she is concerned - and he has good toys too!) showed us
how, so it's okay.

I think that in PARENTING_V2 this discussion took place, and someone recommended
"hunting" - as in "Let's get all the tigers tonight." and then playing like
they were brushing away a tiger.  I used this technique for months with Kati -
changing animals every night - and she loved it.

FWIW,
Kristen

    I just read somewhere a few days ago that small children should not be
    allowed to swallow toothpaste because the high amounts of fluoride can
    cause health problems (can't remember what those were).  The article
    stated that no more than 1/3 of the brush should be covered with paste
    and in a very small child (not old enough to rinse/spit out the
    toothpaste that even less than 1/3 of brush should be covered i.e. a
    dab....  It was in the baby magazine that comes with my Dydee
    Diapers....

    In a past life I was a dental assistant. (like that makes me an expert)
    Anyway, toothpaste doesn't do much as far a cleaning goes.  Oh sure, it
    has some benefits, especially if there's floride in it, but most public
    water supplies have floride added.  Toothpaste DOES make your mouth
    taste a little better for a little while.  So does mouthwash.  But the
    important part here is the quality of the brushing.  All the toothpaste
    in the world won't clean plaque off teeth.  I would suggest using a small
    (pedi- size) SOFT toothbrush.  The game we play at home is it's time
    to 'tickle' her teeth. (A little trick I learned from a dentist)  My
    daughter is reaching a stage of independence, and wants to brush
    herself, so every morning and every night we brush together.  Then
    mom or dad do a quick once over.  If you want the benefits of floride,
    there are also vitamins with floride, though I think you might need a
    prescription.  Floride does help to strenghten teeth.  However, to
    be most effective, it needs to be ingested when the teeth are
    developing.  An infant or toddler is still developing their second
    teeth.
    
    As far as those crevises in the teeth go, you can ask your dentist
    about sealing them.  Basically, all they do is put a resin-type
    coating in the crevise to keep bacteria out.  It works wonders.
    
    
    Anyway, you can never start too early.  Per the American Dental
    Society, you should start as soon as the first tooth has errupted!