DSD jjust pretends to brush her teeth.

[LionessMom]

she doesnt like the toothpaste or something. we switched to toms strawberry flouride free for her and the mint for us. before she was using the reg flouride adult crest, and before that the sparkle mint fun by crest. the only toothpaste she actually brushed her teeth with was the sparkle mint. i refuse to buy anything with flouride in it again esp the sparkle stuff. she can either use the strawberry stuff or the mint stuff i already have. she lives with us so it is up to me. i had been letting her dad do his thing with her in the morning. i figured it was good for their bonding as they had a rough start from before we got custody, but he didnt know sahe was pretending. hhe could hear her from the living room. she would get her toothbrush wet, put toothpaste on it and then rinse it off down the sink. she is reall averse to brushing her teeth. before when she was brushing, she would brush so hard it would bend all the bristles backward. so this morning when i heard her (and figured out what she was doing) I went in there and asked her. she admitted to pretending to brush her teeth. so then i gently brushed her teeth. i showed her how to not jam it into her gums and how to be gentle about it. the whole time she looked like she absolutely hated having the toothpaste in her mouth. like i said, she says she doesnt like any toothpaste. her gums bled. i was ebing really nice about it. i told her i would get up and brush her teeth for her every morning until i knew you would do it herself. i hated brushing when i was a kid too and now i have all my teeth canalled and crowned. her teeth arent white. they are off colored. they have been that way since WIC put that fouride stuff on her teeth 3 years ago. her 2 new adult teeth are white and some of her lower teeth, but most of her upper front teeth are off colored. not really yellow but an off white. after the new toothpaste everybody's teeth got whiter. i was hoping her front teeth would too. her parents both have nice looking teeth (no cavities) so she has good genetics to help her, but i dont know what else to do.

my questions: first, good suggestions on how to get her to brush her teeth.

second, why would her teeth be off colored?

third, her breath still stinks even after i brush and floss and give her mouth rinse.

[rhiOrion]

No advice, but I wanted to give you the anecdotal evidence that I did the EXACT same thing when I was a kid. I would get the toothbrush wet to fool my mom. I think it was more about control than anything. They told me to brush my teeth and HAHAHA I fooled them!

Now I brush twice a day and floss daily.

But, I will say that brushing daily and flossing daily has completely made my gums stop bleeding (except while pregnant). And they would bleed bright red until then.

Are you using a soft bristled brush? I think that's important, especially if she's a hard brusher. If the bleeding is more of her issue than anything, then I would explain about how brushing more often will reduce bleeding.

[LionessMom]

she does have a soft kids brush. and i have explained to her about how if she brushes more often her gums will quit bleeding. she doesnt care. she absolutely hates the toothpaste in her mouth.

i will just have to brush her teeth for her every morning and night until it gets better. sigh.

[Koalamom]

Could you have a dentist tell her about brushing? Then it wont be something that mom wants her to do.

[LionessMom]

i have had the dentist talk to her. they even showed her how they want her to do it. and they are a very nice dentist office. i feel like i am shooting everybody down. sigh.

[beanma]

Brushing with just a wet toothbrush with no paste would be better than nothing. It sounds like she wants some control over this and it's a pretty intimate thing if you think about it so that's very understandable. I'd approach it from a working with her standpoint and see if you can work with her to figure out a way for her to brush her teeth to keep them healthy, but she can have some say about how she does it.

Do you have a healthfood store where they only carry brands like Tom's of Maine and Weleda, etc? If so, I'd make a special trip there and let her pick out her own toothpaste. It might not be the one you would like, but it wouldn't be the sparkle Crest either.

Personally, I would be okay with my kid using sparkle Crest over not brushing at all. Luckily mine will use some healthier brands, but we've tried a lot of different kinds and have a lot of tubes of toothpaste in our bathroom to show for it. My kids neither one like the Toms of Maine strawberry, though. I've had that tube in there for probably 2 years : ! I need to get rid of it. They liked the Weleda kids though and now have moved on to the J/A/S/O/N mint and orange flavors. The J/A/S/O/N mint is really really strong. My youngest says her mouth is burning when she uses it, but she still chooses to use it sometimes!

[cristeen]

Well, if her objection is to the toothpaste and not the brushing, can you let her brush w/o paste once a day? Really, there will be some residue of paste on it still, but it might help w the aversion.

And not liking toothpaste doesnt have to be about control. I'm an adult and dont like the feel of toothpaste in my mouth, and it's about 50/50 whether it'll make me gag. And i really hate mint flavored toothpaste. It took until i was an adult and able to buy a different tube every few weeks for me to discover that not all toothpaste is the same level of gross.

How about trying out tooth powder with her?

[LionessMom]

yes, i will let her pick out her own. good idea. and not using any sometimes too. awesome. we do have quite a few places around here that has the kind of toothpaste i am ok with for sale. i just want her to use a natural flouride free tooth paste or powder. so i will take her to pick out a couple different kinds to try. in the meantime i will let her know that she doesnt have to use toothpaste all the time. woot! i got a plan. thanks ladies!

[wantingagirl2b#4]

Natural zinc eliminates the cause of bad breath. Whiteandhealthy.com breathpurifier is what we use. Says it is made with natural ingredients but this is what the label says ingredients: Water, glyerin, xylitol. Poloxamer 407 , sorbitol, flavor, mannitol, zinc lactate, potassium citrate, sodium citrate, lycopene, lactic acid, calcium lactate, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate.

Diabetic safe and relieves dry mouth symptoms

hope some of this info is helpful! Good luck!