Caring for My 13 Month Old's Teeth

My mother is the Immediate Past President of the Texas Dental Assistants Association. She has always said that the best teething/chew-toy you can give a baby is a toothbrush. She says just give it to them to chew on and they inevitably end up getting their teeth clean.
It has worked for both my older kiddos. I plan on doing the same with my new one when the time comes.

same problem
Need a answer i am watching......
thanks

My sister is a dental hygienist and she told me to take a cloth and go over the teeth. I had the same problem with my children at first. If you can just clean off the surface of his teeth with the cloth. Also, I think that we took our kids to the dentist at 3 years old. I can call my dentist if you like and ask. Both of my kids have been fortunate to not have any cavities at this point. They are 4 and 6 1/2. Feel free to call if you need me to call my dentist.

K.
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My daughter would not let me near her teeth at that age. After weeks of trying (and failing) or simply forgetting about it and letting her do it herself (poorly), I realised I needed to get serious about tooth brushing when I noticed food build-up on her teeth. So I got my husband to hold her firmly in his lap and hold her arms down so she couldn't push the brush away. She would have to laugh or cry for me to get inside her mouth to brush (she'd usually scream or cry). 8 months later we still have to hold her down to brush but she doesn't complain and even hands me the brush, smiles and opens up. We've always stayed sunny about the whole exercise, singing and giving great praise once we're done. And I only do it at night; she does her own in the mornings. As for the dentist, personally I think it can wait as long as you don't notice any problems/changes in the teeth. I do take my daughter for check-ups and, lately, flouride applications, because she has always had poor tooth enamel. Otherwise, I don't think I'd bother at this age cause it seems virtually impossible for the dentist to probe for cavities when this is how they react to just tooth brushing. Good Luck!

I started to "finger" brush my son's tooth at 6-months to get him use to the feel, rhythm and the routine of things. As more of his teeth came through, we switched to a kids toothbrush with different characters on them and of course use a gum cleaner or childs toothpaste. He's almost 16 months and LOVES to brush his teeth. I start out by brushing my teeth and at the same time I give him his toothbrush (with a little water on it) and let him brush his own teeth. When I'm finished brushing my teeth I will then place a pea-sized amount of toothpaste on his toothbrush and proceed to brush his teeth for him. He's more interested in trying to suck the toothpaste off but I do get to brush most of his teeth and his tongue. He's not satisfied until he rinses his mouth out with water! :) So, I would let your child try to brush on his own and then you finish up. That way, you won't have to fight him to do it. As from others who have given you advice, I would let him pick out his favorite character or color on the toothbrush and maybe that will get things started. Good luck!

I am a dental hygienist and it looks like you have gotten some good advice so far. First of all, your child's teeth are important and yes they can decay at this age. I have seen it. Never let a child at this age brush their own teeth. You may let them start but you need to finish to make sure a satisfactory job was done. Flossing is also important but at this age you will be lucky to get the brushing done. Always try to make the experience fun and positive. You make want to check into some fun dental DVDs and books. A good idea would also be to take him to the store and let him pick out his own toothpaste and toothbrush. If he gets excited about being able to pick them out he might be more apt to use them.But when all else fails. I agree with one of the others responses, you may just start getting help to hold him down. A good time to take them to a dentist is around 3. Pediatric dentists are wonderful because all they do are children and really know all the tricks of the trade. You may also take him to the dentist before his check-up just so he can check things out first. Maybe take him to your visit and let him watch. We call them "happy visits". It's not just the cleaning that is important. We are trained to look for decay, tooth and tissue anomalies, bite patterns, etc. Hope this helps.

Things will go much more smoothly if you just give him the toothbrush. Let him hold it and chew on it and suck the toothpaste off of it (fluoride-free, of course). Sit him up on the bathroom counter, with his feet dangling in the sink, and everyone can brush their teeth as a family. Your goal right now should be about the experience and routine, not technique. We started this family brushing routine with both of my kids at age 6 months. Now, at 17 months and 3 1/2 years they have never had an issue with brushing their teeth. After a while of letting them do it themselves, you should be able to say "Ok! great job! Now it's Mommy's turn." Then you gently brush whatever teeth you can get to while making "eeee" and "ahhhhh" faces and fun sound effects. We had electronic toothbrushes when my daughter was little, so we would make "motor" sounds when she was learning to brush teeth. We have since switched back to regular brushes, but we still make the sounds for my son, and he loves it. He is only just now letting me actually get the brush in his mouth when it's my turn with his teeth. For months it's basically been me holding the brush in his closed mouth while he giggles. My daughter lets me get in there pretty good now, and she had a VERY successful first dental visit about a month ago. She was so comfortable that the hygenist actually got to do a full cleaning, which is rare for a 3-yr-old (or so she said). In fact, I use that visit to my advantage and tell her, "Now let me clean them really well like at Dr. Taylor's office."
You can also say things like "Oh, I really like how shiny your teeth look when they're brushed." If my daughter has ever been reluctant to brush, I will say something like, "But I think I saw some Cheerios stuck in there, you might want to brush it out." She usually has to at least look in the mirror for the stuck Cheerios, then we have fun making up crazy things to brush out..."Oh my! Is that an elephant on a back tooth? Do you want to brush it out, or shall I?"

The routine of it is really important. Just hand him a tooth brush every day at the same time. He's young enough that it shouldn't take long to convert him to a very happy teeth brusher.
It's so ingrained in my kids now that I don't have to say a word about it. It's funny to see the baby dashing down the hall at 7:30, heading to the bathroom babbling, "brush teeth! brush teeth!"

Honestly, I don't know a single toddler whose teeth have needed dental work or rotted out of their head. My sister's kids never saw a toothbrush til they started school...and they are practically given Dr. Pepper in their bottles...and still no problems (until they were older, of course).

Think of baby teeth as a "practice" set, relax, and have fun!

I'm not sure I have good suggestions (my daughter is only 10mo has just gotten her first tooth, so I'm a ways away from this yet), but the advice I was given was to give her a toothbrush during her bath and let her play with it so that she gets used to putting it in her mouth (of course, right now, she puts everything in her mouth!) so that later, it will be familiar to her and not so foreign when I try to put it in there. Maybe you could try giving him a toothbrush to play with for a week or so before you try it again.

I've also read to brush your teeth with him first and then his... he'll see that it's something you do and want to imitate it.

I know that my daughter started just clamping her mouth closed when we approached with a finger while she was cutting this first tooth. We wanted to see how it was doing, but she got tired of us sticking our fingers in her mouth and just clammed up. She's finally back to letting us to that again, but it took a while.

As for the first dental visit, I've read everything from taking them at a year old to waiting until they are 2 or older. The idea behind taking them at 1yo is just to get them used to the dentist, the office and someone looking in their mouth. I think all they really do at that first visit is take a quick look and get to know the baby. I would think that finding a dentist that specializes in pediatric care would be good.

I have read that poor care of the baby teeth can lead to cavity issues with their permanent teeth.

I found this on the web: http://www.thekidsdds.com/visit.htm, which actually says to have the first visit between 6mo and 1yr... maybe I'm late already! :-)

Good luck.

P.

Well, if you ask a dentist, they'll tell you to bring him in for a visit, and that it is very important to start now or your child's teeth will rot out. haha.

Now seriously - yes, it's somewhat important to start something now, but I wouldn't stress over it. My son hated it at first - (he's 2 1/2 now and loves to brush his teeth) we did the dentist route, and she taught me a better way to brush - sit on the ground with your legs in front of you and lay your son in on your legs (so he's kind of reclining) - use your finger to open his mouth and just very quickly swish around. The novelty and fun of kind of being upside down really worked for my son. Not every night, sure, but most nights it did. If your son is into characters, buy toddler toothpaste - I have Dora and Scooby Doo and this really added to the fun. He now sits on the bathroom cabinet and gets into watching me brush his teeth. This started to be easy to do at about 20 months. So there is hope.

If you're worried about decay (and it happens even to baby teeth), one of the biggest things to do is to cut out milk before bed. The sugar in it can stay in the mouth. Switch to water.

Good luck!

S.

Lots of good advice here! Per our dentists advice, we let our 3 1/2 year old do his own teeth inthe morning and we do the night brushing. He usually takes a turn as well. He loves to watch himself brushing in the mirror. As to the 16 month old, he doesn't like us "in his mouth" either. We mainly let him "brush" or "chew" on the tooth brush first. He just recently has started liking looking in the mirror. He will actually let us brush his teeth in front of the mirror. Our oldest had his first dentist appt at 2ish or "when he could talk". However, opur pediatrician just recommended that the 16 month old start now (he has lots of his teeth). So we are scheduled to go shortly!

Good Luck!