How to Teach a 2 Yr Old to Brush His Teeth

Try just wetting the toothbrush and sprinkle some baking soda on it. It will clean his teth but doesn't taste all that great.

We sing a song like twinkle, twinkle or itsy bitsy spider. get him a battery operated toothbrush that spins. they love that. even if he doesnt get it correct the first time, he'll get it with practice. so have fun.

as far as toothpaste goes oralb makes a training toothpaste that it safe to use. I let my daughter brush her teeth while I am doing mine since she copies everything I do any way then I tell her I want to count her teeth and she lets me finish brushing the teeth she missed.

I am sure you know this but something my dentist told me with my kids was (about them eating the toothpaste) is that toothpaste isn't nearly as important as the actual act of brushing. So, you could cut back the amount of toothpaste that he would be "eating" lol. As far as brushing I have heard two techniques:
One - Sing a cutesy song...i.e. "This is the way we brush our teeth." And you and he brush together. You modeling the proper way to brush. Try making up a silly song each time to make it fun to see what you guys can come up with and to mix it up some. Then say something like..."let's see if your teeth are sparkling...open up" and if he does well put a sticker on a piece of paper or sticker chart. He will like seeing all the stickers he gets for doing it well.

Two - Invite a special "guest" (a favorite stuffed animal) into the bathroom each time to watch him brush. Then, he can use a pretend or unused toothbrush to then brush his buddy's teeth for bed. He might think that was fun. You could even do a little brushing for him and let him then brush yours too with your own toothbrush of course,lol.

I wouldn't stress too much about technique. He will get it. The main goal is to accomplish making it into a habit and he will get better with it as he goes. Practice makes perfect! :)

Maybe try with let mommy do it first then he gets to do it and spit and get a drink from a special cup.

I let my kids use those battery-powered toothbrushes. Even if they try to chew on them, the bristles still turn and are still scrubbing their teeth a little. They brush their teeth, then mommy gets a turn.

Buy a toothpaste that is safe to swallow like Oragel toothpaste. You will need to brush his teeth for him either before or after allowing him "his turn." He is still too little to do it all on his own. In fact, many dentists recommend helping kids until they are at least five years old. Good Luck! Kati

Find a "fun" toothbrush and toothpaste. There are may products on the market designed for this age group. Let your son choose the product at the store. A battery operated brightly colored Bob the Builder or Elmo toothbrush might inspire him to brush. Above all, be patient!

I think a lot of children do this...mine sure did! We would let our girls brush first and then say "OK, my turn!". That way we both got a go at it and they were pleased to go first. Also, we had a book about tooth decay and how plaque and bacteria hide in tough to get to places. When we would brush we would pretend we were spitting tooth decay out while we made the sounds of tortured protest of tooth decay going down the drain. Dorky, yet effective. God bless!

R.,
I have been a dental assistant for 21 years. Make sure that you are using a pea size amount of toothpaste. Let your son brush his teeth and let him know that the only way he can brush his own teeth is that he lets you do it after he does. That way you can make sure that you get all of the cavity creeps off of his teeth. When you go to the dentist for your check-ups, take him with you so that he can get used to the suroundings and the noise of the instruments that they use on you. The dentist usually starts to see kids around the age of three. If you live in clay or Platte county, there is a program for kids that are on medicaid or their parents don't have insurance. This program works in the schools and some of the pre-schools. You can look up milesofsmilesinc.org to see if you qualify if you would like. I hope that some of the information helps!
K.

I tell my son mommy does it and then it's your turn. I let him watch himself so he can see his teeth. I tell him he can not do until Mommy has. Seems to work for us. Good luck.

When my children were that age I made sure to buy the floride free toothpaste so that if they swallowed a little bit, it would not hurt them. Also this is a time of independence for your son so let him do it himself just model the way you would like for him to do it. You can also allow him to brush when you brush that way he is able to see how to do it; don't worry it's a process.

I guess you could let him hold the brush while you hold his hand and go through the motions. Over and over until he 'gets it'.

I do hope you are not using toothpastes containing fluoride. They have warnings on the labels. They are poison.

I don't use any toothpaste on my children until they understand how and when to spit. Floride is posionous. You can buy floride-free training toothpaste. My youngest(3 years old) likes to do it himself too, so I let him and then I brush them. I just make him let me do it and now there isn't much of a struggle. My children just came home from the dentist where I was told that a child can't do a good job brushing his own teeth until he is able to write in cursive. That said, I usually allow my children to brush their own teeth at about age 7 or 8.
D.- mom of 9

have him watch you brush your teeth. Kids this age usually don't get all their teeth brushed properly but just having them do it when they need to and encouraging them to brush all of their teeth. They mainly need to get into a routine with brushing their teeth so when they get older it will become habit. He will eventually get to where he is brushing all of his teeth. Just put a small drop of toothpaste on his brush as they do eat it and he probably doesn't spit any of it out when he spits right now if he spits anything out at all.

I have always let my kids brush first then I tell them it's my turn... if they resist, I tell them that it's Dr. Mic's(our dentist) rules and I need to get the spots that they missed. We use very little toothpaste.

With my children, I don't even worry about toothpaste until about 3 1/2. Just get the floride tablets from your dentist....Also, let him have access to his toothbrush whenever he wants to, and just let him chew on it (I go through about 8 toothbrushes a year with my 3 year old)that will brush his teeth just fine. And when YOU brush your teeth, but a TINY bead (half a pea size) of toothpaste on the brush and show him...just let him mimic you....

Don't worry about teaching your 2 year old to brush his teeth. You need to brush them for him, for many years. I was once told by a dentist that you should brush your 16 year olds teeth if he's wearing braces. Kids don't do a good enough job by themselves and need you to make sure they're being brushed properly. Sure, you can let him try, but ultimately the responsibility is yours. There are too many kids running around these days with silver teeth. I blame that on the parents.

If he is eating the toothpaste, please do NOT put any on his toothbrush for him. Ingesting too much toothpaste can actually be poisonous. Please read the label on your toothpaste tube. The important thing is that he brushes to remove the plaque and teach him to brush his tongue and cheeks as well so that he doesn't develop bad breath. But toothpaste isn't actually necessary.

I would start off letting him get the hang of just the brushing action. Get your toothbrush and stand by him at the sink and brush your own teeth slowly in an exaggerated manner and have him copy you. To encourage him to let you check his brushing, you can let him brush your teeth, and then have him let you brush his teeth. It worked for my daughter. She loves brushing. You can also hum twinkle twinkle little star or the alphabet song slowly to encourage him to brush for at least the length of the song. Hope this helps!

I am a mother of a 22 month old and a 5 week old and I am also a dentist who works full time. First, make sure you are not giving him toothpaste with fluoride, there are some kinds out there for toddlers who cannot understand the concept of spitting and not swallowing. Toothpaste is not important at any age, especially toddlers. I let my son brush his own teeth first (He tries to copy his father and me) but he gets his tongue more than the teeth. I then floss and brush his teeth by having him say ahh. This did take some practice, I spent months sitting on him to brush while he screamed. I have taken out too many teeth on kids age 2 and up to let his screaming bother me. Good luck with this.

I have a friend who is a dentist and she suggested that children should brush their teeth solely on their own until about kindergarten because they won't get the hard-to-reach places. We've been brushing my son's teeth as long as I can remember (he's 2 1/2) and use the training toothpaste. He, of course, eats the toothpaste and wants to do it himself, too. We jsu tell him that we'll brush his teeth first and then he can have a turn. When he's taking his turn, we brush our teeth with our dry toothbrush and encourage him to initate. So far, our son has a "clean" record with the dentist!

Have you tried doing it with him? This worked for my son for a little while until her got concious about mom watching him. They grow up so fast! Anyway he pretty much does good by himself now.

Here's how it works in our house...mommy gets a turn at bedtime brushing and then they get to finish it up. They can do it all by themselves at morning brushing. The dentist recently gave us 2 min hourglass timers so they know how long to brush. They like the feeling of a timed game. My boys are 3 and 4 1/2 now and I think they do a pretty good job now that they have had time with me doing it for them to model how its done. Of course for the first year or so there was mostly toothbrush chewing for their turn :)

I taught my son to use a toothbrush by putting mouthwash.. not toothpaste on his brush. After a couple of months after that he wanted to try the paste and be a big boy. I told him he could but if he swallowed it then we would have to go back to mouthwash. Worked really well!

We have always had the rule at our house that our daughter brushes her teeth first and then we brush her teeth. She thinks its fun to get them done twice.

I recently went through this with my 2 yr. old. He turned 2 in January and up until a few weeks ago he will NOW let me help him brush his teeth. Before I would let him brush his teeth and would cheer him on telling him "good job." He would smile and keep moving the tooth brush around. I figured as long as he was trying and giving a little brushing action it was OK. Give your son a drink of water after he "brushes" that will also help get rid or anything on the teeth. Lately, my son will let me get those back teeth, but I have to be quick! Two year olds want to be so independent!
Take care, V.

I have a 2 year old as well. What has worked for us is to let her "brush" and then I get a turn (to brush well) and then she can finish up. This seems to work well for us. Good Luck

Try musical teeth brushing. Bring a radio into the bathroom within your reach (away from water!) and play music while you both brush. When you stop the music, you both FREEZE! Remove tooth brushes and look in the mirror together and say, "Whose teeth are cleaner? Wow, yours are really clean, let's do it 2 more times..." (You can use the light switch instead if it's easier, but he may be scared of the dark, and the music is more fun.)

By the way, adults only need a pea size amount of paste--most people over do it. I would just smear a thin layer over his brush, then tell him you're going to play a game while you brush and he can play too if he wants. He'll be hooked!
Good luck!
Angie

My almost 6 year-old still hasn't gotten the hang of spitting and still eats the toothpaste. We just use the baby kind that isn't harmful if swallowed.

It is important that you do have a hand in doing some of the brusing because while it is important for them to learn to do it themselves, it will take years before they are doing it well enough to be the only one brushing. Have you seen a dentist yet? Not hat you have to right now, though the time is quickly approaching. My kids' dentist still wants me to occasionally brush my 8 year old becaues even at that age they don't get all the spots good enough. So, it will need to be a "taking turns" thing with you and your son. It would probably help if the dentist said to do it(wink,wink)because I know at this age, they are wanting to be completely independent of mommy and daddy.

Have him pratice on an empty egg carton. Turn it over to resemble teeth. Show him how to get between the teeth. Another idea is to use a puppet to teach the upper and lower motions of brushing.

Hi~
I have a little boy 3 1/2 and a girl 2. We have our routine morning and night with brushing teeth and have since about age 1. I have them start by spending some time brushing to fulfill their need of being independent and then it's mommy's turn to brush. I take 2-3 minutes to make sure all the teeth get brushed showing them how to do it. Some days the independence is just too strong for me and they brush on there own, but for the most part they let me have a turn. It works for us and I know their teeth get a good brush. :)
A.

Start with just water so you don't have to worry about him eating the toothpaste, which is not very good for them. He is really young to be able to do it himself yet. It is great to encourage him trying, but at his age you need to do the real deal when he finishes.

It's normal for him to eat the tooth paste:-) all you have to do is brush WITH him...NOT for him. Make it as funtastic as possible....sometimes you have to act a silly with it but you are dealing with a soon to be 2 year old. Have patience, good luck & God Bless!

ACT has a mouthwash that changes the color of plaque, you could have him use some of that (showing him to make sure he spits it out by rinsing yourself) and tell him to try and get all the color brushed away... It will give him a visual of all the spots he needs to get and you can evaluate how well he's doing... Plus little boys love anything that changes color lol

Hi! My daughter bought some special toothpaste just for her 2 yr. old [it wouldn't make her sick if she swallowed too much] and just stood in there and brushed hers while the baby did her own thing. Pretty soon she was trying more and more to imitate her mom. I know sometimes it can be frustrating but they are so cute at that age with all their independence! She gets mad too when we try to help her do stuff. Well, hope this helps and good luck to you both!
R.

He is going to eat it, you eat stuff you put in your mouth, right?! lol....when your 2, that's logic!

Just make a game of it. The more fun it is, the more he will get out of it. As stated before, get a non-flouride toothpaste so it isn't a health issue. Let him try to brush, then say something like, "Ok! Inspection time! Let me see....hmmmm....looks like you missed a spot....there!" Let him get that, then point out another missed spot, and another, until you have worked through most of the mouth. Don't let it run on 50 times or anything, that would be annoying for anyone! But maybe work real good on one part of the mouth one week, then move to another, and this will give him a familiarity to brushing and realize all the parts he is supposed to be getting to.

Let it be a process, if he chooses to eat the toothpaste, add more as he is getting the missed spots. The more it appears that you are allowing him to do it himself and not helping him do it, the better off you will be. This is the key to early childhood in general. make it fun, and your life will be a LOT easier!! Good Luck!

My son just turned 3. He's been trying to brush for himself since he was about 1 1/2 to 2 years old. With him, I tell him where to brush as he does it and I also model it for him. Afterwards, he lets me go back and do his teeth again. I use toddler toothpaste because it is safe for them if they do get it swallowed, instead of spit out. We have taught him that he needs to spit out the toothpaste. He tries, but doesn't actually spit anything.

Raffi has this cute song, called Brush your teeth...
There is also a Barney song...
I would sing one to him. I would also model it. You have your toothbrush and he has his.

If that doesn't work...talk with your dentist.

Try alternating Mommy brush first then you can use the toothbrush.The electric tooth brush is fun! Our dentist recommends we brush our children's teeth until they reach 6 yrs of age, sounds like a long commitment but cavities bring a lot of pain, and we've had some! We have 7 children!

Hi R., go ahead and let him do it. It's ok he eats the toothpaste. He will watch you and figure it out ok.
Our daughter in law has our 3 yr old gr son brushing his teeth right out of the bath at night, and I have him brush after breakfast in the mornings. He is getting the hang of it. Give him praise for being a Big boy. Once he see's momma is happy with what he does, if you need to help a lttle bit he won't mind so much. You can take a few minutes and brush with him, make it fun.

BTW Happy Birthday little Man!!
K. aka Nana K to 5 gr kids

Start him on a battery powered brush...simple style....no lights or fancy stuff or it risks becoming a toy. The brush is soft and he'll be more likely to use it longer AND it gets the gums at the same time. You might also use the brush as an incentive to eating something he normally would avoid; "take a bite and you can use the toothbrush." He'll see it as a reward for taking a risk when it's actually serving two purposes...teaching him to take risks and making brushing a part of personal hygiene.

FYI: you can buy ‘teether brushes’ now; little teething tools with easy-grip hold and little bristles on one side. It’s great preparation for having a brush in the mouth later. Some little ones have ‘issues’ with having a brush moving around inside the mouth.

Two quick items.

One, even if he does a decent job of brushing his teeth, you should always finish. They may just be his baby teeth, but you don't want cavaties and pain. Teeth will always be a bad issue.

Two, parents make the best teachers. Let him watch you and do an excessively good job.