Properly brushing your teeth is an important part of dental hygiene that most adults understand. Toddlers, however, have a different idea of what constitutes a clean mouth. It take both patience and creativity to teach a toddler brush teeth.
Instructions
1. Begin by brushing their teeth for them. Dentists agree that it's the parents' responsibility to ensure that a child's mouth is clean until the he is six years old. You must use the correct form of brushing when you brush a toddler's teeth since this is the first lesson he gets in dental hygiene.
2. Let her brush her own teeth. Most toddlers enter an independent stage where they want to do things for themselves, so let her brush her teeth if she asks to. After she has finished, re-brush her teeth to make sure they're clean.
3. Make brushing teeth a fun game. Brush your teeth at the same time and see which one of you can brush longer, or play hide and seek and have him find where plaque likes to hide.
4. Create a tooth brushing song, incorporating words for the different parts of the mouth. You can use words like up, down, top, bottom, left, right, inside, outside, front, back and tongue. If your toddler is learning these words, tap the parts of her mouth that correspond to the word.
5. Use dental tablets. A dental tablet is a cherry flavored tablet that is designed to leave a red stain on plaque. Your toddler needs to chew it for 30 seconds and then spit. Have him swish his mouth with water and spit again. See if he can get all the remaining red off of her teeth while she brushes her teeth.
Tags: brush teeth, dental hygiene, parts mouth, your teeth