But at this point, all I can do is learn from the situation and try to do better. As Oprah would say, "when you know better, you do better." When I asked the dentist what I could do to prevent decay in the future he suggested:
- Brushing after every meal (darn.)
- Flossing (oh, that will be fun)
- Starting Peanut on fluoride toothpaste even if he still swallows a little bit.
- Trying to wipe down Sprout's teeth with a wet washcloth after he nurses (oh, you mean after he's just fallen asleep?!)
Each of the boys picked out a Crest Spinbrush. Peanut, a soccer ball and Sprout, a fire truck. They were about $6 each. I knew things were going well when they started playing with them in the car on the way home, but I was surprised by how willing they were to have their teeth brushed when we got home. Peanut now calls it his "super toothbrush." They are a bit bulky...and ugly...but if my kids are willingly brushing their teeth 2 to 3 times a day, who cares?!
I also bought them kid's flossers and Tom's of Maine natural anticavity toothpaste for Peanut. So far, no swallowing the new toothpaste! I guess it took the dentist telling him not to swallow his toothpaste for it to finally sink in. The kid flossers interested them because of their dinosaur shapes & they weren't afraid of us using them. It's seems like a bit of waste to me, using these plastic dinos once and throwing them away. But hopefully we'll smoothly transition to actual floss soon.
We'll see 6 months from now if any of these new habits and new products make a difference, but I'm crossing my fingers and brushing tiny teeth like crazy.
My son is 2 and three quarters and he still hasn't been to the dentist yet. I am dreading it because we too have a tough time brushing teeth more than once a day. In fact, we never even try to brush more than once a day. The whole process is such a battle every time that I don't have the energy to do it twice a day. How lame is that?
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