Hygeine isn’t a top priority for toddlers

Via flickr user Patrick Nygren

Does anyone else have trouble brushing their toddlers’ teeth? I have to assume it isn’t just mine. Hell, my wife is a dental hygienist. Her job is to brush teeth.

Grab his hands…and feet

Our old method of brushing was to clamp Tom down in the best headlock we could muster, while the other grabbed his hands, keeping him from hitting and stealing the toothbrush. Then we’d grab his feet to keep him from shattering the bathroom mirror. There was a lot of screaming and crying. I’m not sure if it was coming from Tom or us.

The passive method

Our next strategy was to go with the flow. If he’d let us brush his teeth, we’d jump at the opportunity. If he didn’t want to we’d skip that night, and try harder next time. We never brushed his teeth.

Getting on his level

Obviously we were flat out failing at this. Either we put him in a position where the neighbors thought about calling Protective Services for abuse, or the dentist was going to call them for neglect. Then I had an epiphany. Tom didn’t like bugs. Now, it wasn’t that he was afraid of bugs. This would have stayed on the cruel side of the spectrum had that been the case. He merely knew what bugs were, and didn’t appreciate the presence of them. We also were trying to teach him his colors at the time. I made a game of it.

Mouth buggies

To get Tom to be agreeable to brushing his teeth I told him we were going to clean out all the mouth buggies. He was intrigued. “Buggies in my mouth?” “Yep. We’re going to brush your teeth, and get them out of there…Ooh I see a green one.” As time went on, he began to pick the color of the bug. Sometimes he tells me how many there are. The best part of this strategy, though is I can always get an extra five seconds of brushing by telling him that I’m chasing the very last one.