How do I get junk off a reluctant toddler's teeth?
I have a two-year-old son who is extremely mild-mannered but hates having his teeth brushed. He cries, squirms, clamps his mouth shut, sticks out his tongue to block the toothbrush, etc. He's been getting better about this lately, but I still don't get a lot of time to brush his teeth before he starts making it very difficult.
My wife and I have noticed that he seems to have a significant amount of... something... built up on his bottom teeth around his gums. Even when he allows me to brush his teeth vigorously for a minute, I can't get the buildup off. What is this stuff? Is this dangerous to his oral health? How can I get it off?
At this point we still haven't brought him to a dentist. I can't imagine any possible way will allow a stranger to stick his hands in my son's mouth for any extended period of time to clean his teeth.
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I don't know how logical your two-year-old is, but here's what worked for my son: I explained to him that some foods make your teeth sick, and if we don't scrub them off then your teeth will eventually fall out. I told him that if he couldn't be a good helper and let mama brush his teeth, then we wouldn't be able to eat those foods anymore. Then I told him what those foods were: candy, ice cream, cookies, crackers, juice, bread, milk... for about a day, he said, "it's ok, mama, I won't eat those," but that turned around REALLY quick. He can only be patient enough for me me to brush 1/4 of his teeth at a time, but he only needs a break for maybe 10 seconds in between, so the whole thing still only takes 2 mins or so.
That said, as mentioned in the comments, if you can SEE build-up, he needs to go to a dentist. There are a lot of dentists who specialize in kids if you're worried about his behavior.
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