Dentist

nackie

Anyone take their LOs to the dentist yet?  We went this morning and it was rough.  He was not a fan of people messing with his teeth and cried the whole time.    He did like the stickers he got at the end though.
I was hoping they would have some advice on how to brush his teeth since he puts up a huge fight when we do it, but they just said it's pretty common for them to be uncooperative at this age.
We got a full cleaning today though, so that was good!

mamadcb

Darn, I was hoping they'd have lots of great suggestions for you (and thereby us, ha!). I took someone's suggestion when we talked about it last and got a toddler toothbrush instead of the little silicone finger thingie and he does seem to like that a lot. I sure don't think he'd like a cleaning either! Good for you for being on top of that. I'm impressed

kodariah

We've went and it wasn't to bad, Keat was just confused about what was happening. Keat used to hate his teeth being brushed but i started letting him help me. If I let him "brush" his teeth he will let me do it and won't fight me. 

Cricket99

We have a toddler toothbrush too. We try to brush after every meal while he is still in his high chair. We don't use toothpaste yet as I feel he would just lick it off and that's counterproductive. We haven't take him to the dentist because he hates people looking in his mouth... I'm not looking forward to that first trip....

stephanienjer

I have a dentist friend and she gave me a really good technique to brush their teeth. 
Sit on the floor with your feet apart. Lay LO on their back between your legs, with their head closest to your body. Use your legs to pin down their shoulders and legs. When they open their mouth to protest, use thumb and forefinger at the hinge of the jaw so they can't close their mouth. Then, get in there and brush!
I was totally stressed about this method. She also has a son the same age, and she says that a little crying because he is mad is better than crying because she has to give him a shot for a filling later. I tried it, and Birdie DID open her mouth, but not to cry. She thought it was hilarious! We used this technique for a few weeks until she understood what we were doing. Now, she legs me do the preliminary brushing while just holding her, and then I let her take over to "brush" them herself. (really just chewing, which still works.) We do use a toddler toothbrush, and right now, I'm using the raspberry flavored toothpaste that came with it. She really likes the taste, which helps. She's actually gotten to the point where she asks to brush, and when I get close to her, she opens her mouth and says, "AHHH."
A few other things that my friend told me:
Fluoride is OK at this age. Totally safe in this amount.
Regular toothpaste is also safe at this age. She said just barely smear it--like what you'd pick up from the tube without squeezing it.
Brush their teeth at night for them--when there are food particles, etc., to handle. In the morning, when it's just been saliva and mouth breathing all night--let them do it themselves. 

KFrob

@stephanienjer  This is SOOOO helpful!!!!  

SDaniels19

The Frieda (sp?) brand that makes the snot sucker thing makes a toothbrush also that has bristles on three sides- it's really helpful for getting all sides of the teeth with one swipe. I found it at Target

amandar2311

My dentist won't see our LO until she is 3 or 4. I brush her teeth daily and she loves trying to "brush" her teeth herself. She even points to the sink and wants to put her toothbrush under the running water. We also live in a town where there is no fluoride in our water so her ped gave us a script for some liquid fluoride to use one a day.