Parents of Preschoolers  Discussion Forum

When is the right time for a child to have his teeth brushed? My son is 1.5 year old.
How can I use a toothpaste ? The child cannot rinse off from mouth so how does one do it?

Roopa sunitha replied. As per dentists once the first teeth appear you should start brushing. but it is not the usual brushing we do with brush but you can wipe your child's teeth with clean cloth. Since your child is 1.5 you can start using brush. Eventhough it is not essential that you use a paste it is always better to use one so that he gets used to that. Buy him kids paste which is available in all the supermarkets in different flavours. there is absolutely nothing wrong if he is not able to spit it out. My son is 2 yrs and still now he dosen't know how to spit. he swallows the entire paste even before brushing. So there is nothing to worry Vidhya replied. Roopa,


Create an interest in brushing... Buy some colorful brushes and tell ur son that we will brush with blue color brush today, the next day in pink color and so on..

Initially u have to wet your hands and wash his teeth.. teach him to brush updown etc., u also can show how to brush... As Munny suggested, some kids paste doesn't contain flouride.. Try those pastes.

But it is very very essential to brush

Try it out

Regards - Vidhya
Munny replied. Hi Roopa,
If you live in U.S. then there are toothpaste available for toddlers. I started my daughter with that toothpaste when she was about the same age at your son. This toothpaste doen't contain floride, so it's OK to swallo. I just wet my fingers and rinse her teeth, but she still doesn't know how to rinse her mouth. These toothpaste is good. They also come in lot of flavors that kids like. So try them.

Good Luck,
Munny