Do you floss your toddlers teeth?

Hey Jellisy

A friend did her three year old visit to the dentist and they told that she should be flossing her children's teeth.  Does anyone do this?  Teeth brushing is already a battle, I can't imagine adding flossing to the routine. 

claraj

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, right!

I can't even get her to sit still to brush. Floss? Puh-lease.

WinesNot Whines

I cannot even imagine this.

DCtoLowcountry

Do they recommend tranquilizers as well to be able to attempt flossing? For the toddler or for me - either option would work.

QueSrah

Hell to the no.  That sounds like a good way to turn our evening routine into a full on battle.  We already have that in the morning, and I refuse to extend it to nighttime! :P

Gigs2000

I cannot even begin to imagine.

But I have a friend who was told she needed to floss her daughter's teeth because her teeth are more crowded than the average toddler's...she already has 3 cavities due to no flossing and a lack of spacing.

jess08200

Not on your life.  I can't stand the noise when I floss my teeth.  Let alone listening to it as I try to do it to a child who would be running away!

tracy042206

Maggie started at about 2.5 asking for it!  She saw me do it and then asked.  Luckily most of her teeth are separate so we don;t have to do too many.  She prefers real floss to those kid picks ones that have handles - it is actually easier to do with real floss and she prefers me to do it.  I have not even tried with Molly yet because like others, even teeth brushing is a battle (all she wants to do is suck the toothbrush while SHE holds it). 

tomandcourt

It's weird, but sometimes J actually asks me to floss his teeth (usually after seeing me do it).

But do you know how hard it is to floss someone else's teeth? It's such a weird angle, and with an only-slightly-cooperative toddler it's almost impossible. 

So my answer is basically, no.

Artslvr

DCtoLowcountry:

Do they recommend tranquilizers as well to be able to attempt flossing? For the toddler or for me - either option would work.

The pedi dentist we saw suggested it for my then-4-year-old.  I just sort of nodded and thought "yeah, right."  She did give me one of those teeth flossing thingys that is a plastic handle with a piece of floss strung up, saying that might be easier.  Still....

Sofka

we don't, but sometimes DD will ask us for floss and do it herself (not a very good job obviously). We took her to the dentist but she refused to open her mouth and our dentist said that it's more impt for her not to fear dentists than to be seen by one now, so he didn't force her (or make us force her), and we'll come back when she's 3.5 and again at 4. We took her right after she turned 3 and he said that 4 is the age he prefers to start seeing kids.

 

victoria1212

DD loves to brush and floss her teeth. Now, the flossing is not precision flossing but she loves to run it through her teeth. She says it tickles. Brushing teeth is the ONE battle we don't have!

cmh06

DD likes getting her teeth flossed.  I use those kids floss picks.  I'm with pp that teeth brushing is not a problem in our house.  DD enjoys doing it herself.  I usually go back over her teeth when she's done with doing it herself.

Useonfire

DS actually kind of likes it mostly because he HATES when things get stuck in his teeth and he announces "Stuck! Fix it, please."  It's so funny.  I don't incorporate flossing into his normal daily brushing routine.  You know, the routine I remember like 25% of the time

septemberdreams

I asked my dentist, for my than 3 year old, and she said not yet.  He will ask for floss when he has something stuck in his teeth.  He's good about brushing teeth and probably will let me floss, which is why I asked the dentist.