He Has Teeth, So What Now?

[AnnaNova]

so my son has about 5 teeth (and i believe i molar). he is gonna be one soon, and i ve been wondering when his first dentist appt should be.
should we start brushing his teeth? he likes to use a toothbrush when we brush our teeth, although he mostly chews on it. i also have a finger toothbrush i used to rub his gums with when he was teething.
if we start brushing his teeth, what toothpaste? how often? twice like for adults or is once a day enough for now?
thanks

[Denae524]

My DD is just getting her first 2 teeth and I would love to read what others say about this!

[Alisse]

A lot of children can't tolerate being at the dentist well enough to do anything until around the age of 3years because of behaviour issues. Before then it's a good idea to bring him to your checkups in order for him to develop a familiarity with the environment and to see if he's able to sit in the chair reclined without too much fear. Some children aren't able to have a real, successful appointment until around the age of 4-6years.

You should definitely start brushing his teeth. Teeth need to be cleaned/wiped/brushed as soon as they appear in the mouth. So many parents don't realize how important it is for the little ones to keep certain teeth until certain ages to avoid future huge orthodontic costs! As well, children's teeth are softer so they rot more easily and faster.

Don't use adult toothpaste. Most children find the mint too spicy and they don't have the ability to NOT swallow it yet, (which would be very very very bad if they did!). You can buy any old children's toothpaste at the drugstore. But if there's a choice, try not to get a tasty one as that'll encourage eating it. Do they even make non-tasty one's nowadays? I dunno. If he can't tolerate the children's toothpaste yet, just brush with a wet toothbrush. The object of the game, really, is to remove the plaque.

Brushing after every meal is the most ideal, but who the heck actually does that in real life? The most practical advice is to brush 2-3 times a day, (twice is the absolute minimum for any age!!!).

[treegardner]

We brush DS teeth every night before bed. We use Tom's of Maine Silly Strawberry toothpaste. We brush first and then we left him hold the toothbrush and "brush" his teeth. He mostly just chews on it.

[MamaPhD]

Brushing...
You gotta start brushing baby's teeth as soon as they come all the way out. Don't brush while they are erupting or still coming out cuz baby's gum will be tender and they will learn to hate the brush. There are some special baby brushes out there. Unfortunately some of them are pretty hard. So what you can do is to soak them in very hot water for 2-3 minutes to soften the bristles, cool it down by shaking it several times, then use it. Toothpaste should be non-floridated one until kid can spit it out because eating floride is bad for stomach. Probably age 3-4?

Brush at least twice a day, probably once after breakfast, once before bedtime.

There are some wet wipes being sold for cleaning baby's teeth but they are not good. The reason is you want to get at plaque where teeth meet gum while brushing. The wipe doesn't have good reach at that interface. Just not pointy like a bristle.

Dentist....
Ideally, theh first dentist appointment should be between 6-12 months when the baby first start having teeth. This is a great time to check everything out, plus a nice educational thing for the parents about baby's dental health, hygiene, what not. But most dentists won't see kids that young probably out of convenience. I found one that will see an 18 month old, but most will see starting 3 year old. This is such a shame because by then, they will already have a lot of teeth and habits good or bad.

[AnnaNova]

thanks!!! that was very informative!!!
gosh, i better break out his toothbrush and go get some toothpaste!!!
ive been meaning to research and see if there are any children-only dentists in our area... in fact, we just had breakfast, so i think we're off to brush our teeth!!
thanks again!

[cristeen]

The dentist we saw when DS got his lip clipped said he likes to see babes at 6 mos, or as soon as they have more than one tooth. He's all about preventative maintenance, even gave me the handouts about not putting anything other than water in a sippy cup - for my 8 week old (not that he was suggesting I give my 8 wo a sippy - they're a very BF friendly office).