Occupational Therapist (OT), Toothpaste Help

[justour2boys]

Ladies, I know this is Occupational Therapist (OT), but I can bet some else has had to deal with this issue so I throwing it out there for some help.

My difficult child hates toothpaste, always has. And brushing teeth has always been a fight... to which he blames the bad tasting toothpaste. We have tried lots and lots of brands, but cant seem to find one he likes. He doesn't like fruit flavors and I can't find a mint that is not "too minty". We even tried baking soda/water with no luck... to "powdery".

Does anyone have a mild tasting toothpaste they like?

 

[InsaneCdn]

use the "search" on this site... I remember somebody discussing this... and from that, it sounded like there are things like "chocolate flavored toothpaste"!

 

[ducky8888]

I hope I can respond, even though it was addressed to the ladies here I am a huge fan of the Crest Cinnamon toothpaste. If he likes Big Red gum then he might like this toothpaste (http://www.crest.com/crest-products/pro-health-clean-cinnamon.aspx). Although it occurs to me maybe he is using the flavor as an excuse to not do something he doesn't like to do? I have seen this a lot with my girlfriend's difficult child, even if its something we know he likes he will say he doesn't like it when he gets it in his head he wants something else.

 

[DaisyFace]

Although it occurs to me maybe he is using the flavor as an excuse to not do something he doesn't like to do? I have seen this a lot with my girlfriend's difficult child, even if its something we know he likes he will say he doesn't like it when he gets it in his head he wants something else.

That's what I was thinking, too...

If you've already experimented with many different brands and flavors - perhaps it's time to consider that he is not saying exactly what he means?

Maybe it's not the toothpaste, maybe it's the brush? Have you tried different options - waterpik, spinbrush, musical brush, etc?

And if he will at least swish the brush around on his teeth....he technically doesn't need toothpaste at all.

 

[JJJ]

Our dentist said that since our water is florinated, that just brushing with water is fine; just use soft bristles and a good scrubbing!

 

[welcometowitsend]

I like the idea of a waterpik although it could be messy.

One thing I have noticed is that if I use warm water and run the toothbrush with the toothpaste on it under the tap before putting it in my mouth it cuts the 'minty' drastically. It might be worth a shot.

 

[AnnieO]

All good suggestions. They also have vanilla mint and bubble gum flavors...

 

[Californiablonde]

I've exhausted all possibilities with toothepaste for my kids. They don't like anything. I just use plain water. I took them to the dentist a few months ago and difficult child had no cavities and easy child had one.

 

[HaoZi]

Has he rejected Crest Sparkle for Kids already? That's usually a popular one. If you don't mind the lack of fluoride there are bacon, cupcake, and chocolate flavored toothpastes available and you can get a fluoride rinse for him to use instead.

 

[susiestar]

Look for the crest vanilla mint toothpaste. For years we had several tubes of toothpaste open at one time. Each kid had a flavor they liked and they hated most other flavors. We also found that the cheaper the toothpaste was, the less strong the flavor was. You can also try cinnamon toothpaste. Do they stll make those Pearl drops tooth paste? it had a much milder flavor.

This link has recipes for homemade toothpastes, and experimenting might find a good solution: http://www.ehow.com/way_5341149_homemade-toothpaste-children.html

This is a link to an amazon search for vanilla toothpaste: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...=aps&hvadid=1463520695&ref=pd_sl_8pw1ogjn41_p

I hope this helps.

 

[hearts and roses]

If you've tried a lot of brands, I agree it sounds like more of an avoidance issue. There comes a time when you have to tell them to just suck it up. My now 23 y/o, engaged to be married, difficult child is still a pita about brushing her teeth and personal hygiene at times! She's paying for it...just had a root canal yesterday because she neither brushes her teeth regularly or gets scheduled cleanings...she has high anxiety about her teeth for some reason.

 

[confuzzled]

my pediatric dentist told us we could dip the brush in ACT mouthwash in lieu of toothpaste and it worked pretty well....some kids confuse the taste with the texture of regular toothpaste. i'd guess he really DOES have a hard time with it, no matter what the reason and better to brush with something, even plain water instead of not doing it at all.

 

[susiestar]

Every dentist I have known says it is more important to floss than to brush. If you haven't tried them, they sell handle like things that a cartridge with a bit of floss in it snaps into and it is much easier to floss with that than with just the floss on your fingers. Have you tried these? They also sell the plackers type little floss things that are little picks and those do a good job also but they may be a challenge if your child doesn't have a lot of fine motor control. I would push those and probably one of the kids fluoridated mouth rinses/pre brushing rinses.

 

[Sheila]

An Occupational Therapist office may be able to recommend something also. This is a common problem with kids that have sensory issues.