how important is it to brush 15mth old's teeth?

i was wondering how important it is to brush your baby's teeth? my DS is 15mths old and we introduced a toothbrush when he first started getting teeth at 7mths. but it's still quite hard to get anywhere with brushing - he tends to clamp his mouth shut. i dont want to force it, i dont want him to be scared of brushing his teeth! we have tried brushing our teeth in front of him, making a song out of it, etc. etc. but still, its not easy, so we tend to 'forget' and maybe attempt it a couple of times a week. i was wondering then am i going to cause tooth decay?! or is he still a bit young to need a good brushing every day?

At 15 months I was happy to give Sammy the toothbrush and chomp away on it himself with just a dob of baby toothpaste. Every few days Id want to do it myself. It gets so much easier when they are older because they see you do it and want to do it as well.

Jo

We have toothbrushes for the bath, and make it a part of bath time as well as right before bed, so on the way to bed we stop & brush. Matilda has a brush for the bath, a brush for before bed & mummy/daddy brush which is the one we use. We always brush her teeth at night but any other time she gets to do it.

For Jovie, we have a brush for the bath as well to make it fun. I also have a go once a day when we walk into the bathroom & I do a quick brush over her teeth just for her to get used to it. Jovie is 10 months and has 6 teeth with 4 threatening to come through. We started with Jovie when her first tooth came through.

I still worry about this with DD who is 2.5 now. We do brush her teeth (she has a go first and then I do it for her to make sure the back ones are reached) but I still worry about it.

I've been meaning to post a question to Sez about it (she's a dental nurse I think??) about how old they have to be before you take them to the dentist for check ups. We might take DD in the new year after bub arrives and our health cover waiting period expires.

For the littlies, our MCN told us that if you give them a wet flannel to chew on, it does a great job at cleaning their teeth! Especially when they only have a few.

I'd say it's important but we find it tricky too. Maybe it's more important that you avoid giving sweet foods? :shrug: I read a report that the teeth of children these days is worse than when we were little and back then parents weren't as focused on actually cleaning their kids teeth... it's the sweet drinks and foods that are to blame.... and bottled water.

I just give Jesse his toothbrush in the bath and let him munch on it. At the beginning he didnt like the feel of the brissles but now he loves it. Maybe just introduce it every bath time, let him munch and brush them himself toll he gets use to it. Jesse now will open his mouth and allow me to brush them for a few seconds.

We gave James a baby toothbrush to gnaw on once he had a few teeth through and that was usually in the bath too.

Leanne, I only recently asked the exact same question. My DD is now 16 months old, but she still doesn't want to have anything to do with brushing. I went out today and got her an electric toothbrush after someone recommened it, well she had loved to chew the handle and that was about it. I'm the same I don't want to have to pin her down to do, but I worry so much about decay. Hopefully she will change her mind soon. Until then I will be persistant and give her the toothbrush in the bath and play tickle your teeth with her until she shifts. Let me know if you find something that works.

I heard something similar to what Bathsheba posted - when they're quite young, it's not how much their teeth get brushed that matters as much as what they're eating. Apparently kids who have candy more than once a week have much higher rates of decay, regardless of how often their teeth are scrubbed. I'd keep up with the brushing, if you can, and let him play with the tooth brush too, but make sure that he's eating well. I've heard pieces of cheese are good for cleaning off teeth, and creating a healthy mouth environment. (encourages lots of saliva, which cleans the mouth or something like that?)