Cleaning Teeth

[hellokitty1]

DD is just strting to get two bottom teeth and I'm curious as to what everyone's teeth cleaning routine is. What, if anything did you do before teeth came in? When I'm not lazy, I will stick a washcloth in her mouth and try ot wipe her gums if she lets me. And after your baby got teeth, what did you do? Did you start using a toothbrush immediately? I've seen that Gerber stuff for teeth and gums. How is it?

Thanks for your comments.

[MelissaTC]

We brush teeth 2x a day - morning and before bed. We have the Oral B first toothbrush and we purchased a new brush (Elmo) yesterday. We were using the orajel toddler toothpaste but the DR told us to switch to a kid fluroide paste. We also purchased a kiddie stool from Wal-Mart so he can stand at the sink. My friend's DDS told her to use a washcloth with a little bit of kiddie paste on it to clean their mouth out at night, that way you know that at least once in the day, their teeth were cleaned. Sometimes it is hard getting in there with the brush and those little finger brushes never worked for us.

Matthew enjoys brushing his teeth and loves his toothbrushes. I guess that is the key? :)

[August Mom]

We used a washcloth initially and then a finger toothbrush with water. We have trouble using a toothbruch with bristles because DS chews on the bristles.

[sntm]

my dentist actually said just to let him chew on a wet toothbrush while we brush our teeth, more to get him used to having it in his mouth.

opinions, smilequeen?

shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[amp]

We didn't do anything before DS got his first two teeth. Once he got those, we bought an Oral B first toothbrush with bears and ducks on it. We brush his teeth and gums 2x day...after breakfast and before bed. I brush first and then I let Jacob "brush" with basically amounts to him chewing on the toothbrush like crazy. It makes a good teether! We must be doing something right, though, because he gets excited when he sees the toothbrush.

[hellokitty1]

do you use anything with the toothbrush, like toothpaste? And what can we use for a 9.5 month old?

[amp]

We do. I think it's the orajel brand of toothpaste with a fruit flavor. He likes it just fine. I think Gerber also has some and there may be other brands I don't know about. At Target you find this stuff in a couple of sections. In the infant/baby section we found toothbrush sets and finger brushes. In the regular toothbrush section we found our Oral B first toothbrush and they had some brand of baby toothpaste. I actually found the orajel toothpaste in the aisle with the baby dipes, wipes, lotions and soaps, etc.

ETA: I think you need to use some baby brand of toothpaste so the flouride they swallow is either different or in a much smaller amt. I just know it notes on the pkg. that it's safe to swallow for babies.

[momma_boo]

Hi Vivian,

It's me again! (LOL, I feel like I'm "stalking" you and answering all your posts).

After reading some threads last month about cleaning their mouths, I decided to finally get my act together and start brushing her teeth/gums (she's only got her two bottom teeth).

I bought a package of the Gerber tooth gel that comes with a little finger brush. I used that a couple of times and DD liked the taste b/c she didn't mind at all. Two weeks ago, I picked up an Oral-B toothbrush for babies at the supermarket and have been using that at night. (I'm hanging my head in shame for publicly admitting that I don't do it in the morning). She's figured out the routine now and will open up her mouth and let me brush. Then I let her hold the handle and chew on it for a few minutes.

HTH!