Help! My Toddler Doesn’t Want To Clean Her Teeth

Unsplash – CC0 License

The act of cleaning teeth is something that children find hard to get used to. 


For this reason, many children outright refuse to allow their parents to brush their teeth. As such, getting your toddler to comply with daily toothbrushing can be a nightmare. 

In this post, we take a look at this issue in more depth. In it, we learn some of the things that you can do to make it less of an ordeal and transform it into something that both you and your toddler can enjoy. 

Do It Every Day

When it comes to brushing your child’s teeth, persistence pays off. The more you get your child used to the routine, the more likely they are to do it. 

Make sure that you introduce the idea of cleaning teeth once in the morning and once in the evening. Always bring it up so that kids know to expect it. Eventually, it will become something they stop complaining about and may actually enjoy. 

Explain Why You Are Doing It

Unsplash – CC0 License

Kids will naturally resist anything unpleasant that they don’t understand, so you will also need to explain why you are brushing their teeth. Tell them that brushing their teeth will help to prevent tooth loss and pain in the future. It will also help keep their smile healthy throughout their lives. 

Let Them Pick The Toothbrush They Want To Use

You can also give your kids more ownership over situations by allowing them to pick a toothbrush they want to use, according to https://qz.com.  Children are much more likely to enjoy brushing if they feel like it is their toothbrush in their mouth, not just one that you’ve chosen. 

You can also get them to choose a toothpaste too. Some manufacturers make kids’ versions that they are more likely to use. 

Let Them Watch You


Children are naturally inclined to copy their parents. Therefore, it’s a good idea to let them watch you clean your teeth. The more you do it, the more likely they are to follow. 

Make it look like a pleasant experience and ask them to copy you. The more they get used to toothpaste in their mouth, the more likely they are to continue doing it in the future.

Get Early Checkups

You can take children for dental services from an early age. This gets them used to professionals inspecting their mouths and checking their teeth. Dentists can also explain to children and parents how to brush correctly to prevent plaque buildup in the future. Sites such as https://www.cedarridgedentistry.com offer further information. 

Offer Small Rewards

Sometimes your toddler will outright refuse to open their mouths and let you brush their teeth. In this case, you might want to offer them some sort of reward as compensation for dealing with all the unpleasantness. Things like stickers, reading them a bedtime story or allowing them to hold a toy can make the experience more pleasant. 

So, which of these strategies will you use to get your toddler to clean their teeth?

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading!  🙂

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.