As the daily life occupations specialist on the LINK team and the mom of  a doesn’t-love-the-dentist-had-to- wear-braces teen,  I’m passing along some new information to make tooth brushing a less arduous task for all involved.  In researching this topic I was amazed at how much information there is out there for becoming savvy on this subject.

A few general tips regarding the activity of tooth brushing in general:

For children:

• Children’s teeth need to be brushed twice a day; once in the morning and in the evening (after breakfast and before bedtime are the best times).
• Children need to be taught to brush their own teeth and will need assistance with this task in their toddler and preschool years. Children under six often do not have the manual dexterity to do an adequate job of brushing.
• Children also need to have “toothpaste police” to monitor the application of low-fluoride toothpaste to their brushes.  Dabs of paste the size of a pea are recommended.  Encourage the child to spit out the paste when they're done (low fluoride toothpaste is recommended for children under age seven).
• Make the process fun and quick!

For children with low incidence disabilities several other issues need to be addressed:

• Often children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other sensory processing challenges are hypersensitive to touch around their face and mouth making the whole tooth brushing task difficult. Talk with a therapist regarding a  monitored program to desensitize your child and check out the Dentistry for the Disabled Child and Adult ( www.altonweb.com/cs/downsyndrome/dentdisa.html) for more information regarding these techniques.
• Children with visual impairments do not benefit from the visual imitating of adults for this daily hygiene ritual and will need both tactile exploration of the toothbrush as well as familiarization with the toothpaste being used. It’s OK not to use toothpaste for the tooth brushing process if it’s not tolerated well by your child. The monitored use of an electric toothbrush with its vibration may be a positive addition to the brushing routine.  Conversely this may not be tolerated well by other children with sensory processing difficulties and a hypersensitive child may not find this new “gadget”  fun at all!

Speaking of gadgets, several toothbrushes and alternatives are noted in the dental literature for consideration of use with your child. Be sure to explore these options with your dental care provider before they are introduced :

1)   The Gerber Dental Care kit has several types of toothbrushes for one to try to find out which one works best for beginning tooth brushing (actual tooth brushing should begin around the age of two).

2)    Nuk also makes an oral care kit and these devices are often used in desensitizing programs.

3)    Braun’s Oral-B Plaque Remover for Kids has just recently been clinically studied [Garcia-Godoy et al., in press]  for safety and efficacy  with children 6-11 years of age .  Results indicated that this brush was both safe for this age group and actually removed  more plaque than a manual tooth brush.

4)    Crest has added the fun to a fundamental hygiene task with its new Spinbrush, which is a battery- operated brush with kid appeal (adult monitoring during use is recommended).

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