Fluoride Toothpaste & flossing

At what age did you start your LO's on Fluoride toothpaste? We went to the dentist last week & I totally forgot to ask! DH wants so switch to the Fluoride toothpaste to buy the big tubes, but I'm not sure I'm sold on the idea. Don't kids have to be able to rinse & spit to use the Fluoride stuff?

Also, our dentist told us we should start flossing the boys' teeth. While Aiden still has decent gaps in his front teeth, his back teeth are touching. Conner's front teeth are moving together quite well & are mostly touching already. While we were there, they flossed their teeth & the boys did great. They recommended these little Disney flosser things, which I went & bought...just haven't used yet. So, when did you guys start flossing your kids' teeth?

 

We started flossing at 2 and we do it every day. Really. Their teeth are so tight that I buy the Glide flossers and it's really not difficult using those. They're used to it and can floss their own teeth fairly well already.

We switched to regular toothpaste at 3. I let them choose a new tube from the adult section. I started with such a small amount that it wouldn't hurt them if they swallowed it and we practiced spitting. They did not need much encouragement to spit.

 

The ped gave us the ok for fluoride toothpaste at 2. We finally saw the dentist at over 3 and she told us to floss Natalie's teeth because they're so close together. Eli doesn't need to floss, but likes to anyway. We use the flossers and don't floss every day.

 

last time we went to the dentist he said not until they can spit and rinse without swallowing. I would practice first and tell them when they can do it they can have new toothpaste. I know I should work on my two but they love the taste and always just suck it off when they first get their toothbrushes.LOL.

We haven't flossed yet, but guessing I should too.

 

We still use training toothpaste. Meara can rinse and spit well, but Ana can't. I don't want to deal with "Why can SHE have this toothpaste and I can't!?!" so I'll wait until they are both good it. Until then they will keep practicing with the training toothpaste. As for flossing, I floss their teeth on an as needed basis, which has been a lot this summer (they love them some corn on the cob!).

 

We have been using flouride toothpaste for awhile. As long as you use a tiny amount, even if they swallow it it won't hurt them. As for flossing, we aren't the best at that yet. I try but they hate it. Their teeth are not really close together, though, and so far we have had no problems. I am hoping they inherited my teeth, I have never had a cavity in my life!

 

We are on the kids´ toothpaste still (they tend to eat the toothpaste!) and I dont floss their teeth. They dont have floss for kids in my part of the world, if such a thing exists, and quite frankly I dont want the fight!

 

We started flossing at age 3. Amy just switched to fluoride toothpaste at 4.5 (after her mid-year dentist checkup), because she finally figured out how to spit instead of swallowing. Sarah has still not figured that out, so she still uses toddler toothpaste (fluoride-free).

Our dentist was very firm that they need to spit and not swallow (or not more than a trace amount) before switching, no matter how old they are.

I buy the single-use flossers for kids (I don't know what brand -- the only one they have at our Target). They are 100 times easier than using regular floss.

 

We started flossing around age 3 and started using the fluoride toothpaste right before they turned 4. I wanted to be sure they could spit really well before using it. They have also been using the Act fluoride rinse since we started the fluoride toothpaste as well. But again, we knew they could swish and spit it out before starting it.

 

We've been flossing for some time (single use flossers here, too), but just started flouride toothpaste a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to be sure that they could spit well. My girls have done excellent with it.

 

We just went to the dentist yesterday and I pretty much just told them I was waiting until they could not swallow while brushing and spit properly. They were VERY adament on continuing to go that route. Fluoride is a known carconigen, so we will be extremely careful with making sure they can brush without swallowing before we switch. I made a comment that I would rather them not use any toothpaste than swallow fluoride toothpaste and they said "Absolutely!" So I'm pretty comfortable with waiting.
They did recommend to start flossing as soon as they would let us get in there to do the job. I'll be working with them on that soon.

 

We just went to the dentist on Thursday and we were told to start using a very tiny amount of fluoride toothpaste and to teach them to spit it out. They are doing well with that. We also don't have fluoride in our water, so that may be why he wanted us to start with the fluoride toothpaste. He also told us to start flossing because my girls teeth are very tight together -- and that probably also means we're on the path to braces.

 

I think I'm going to have to clarify with the dentist. We don't have fluoride in our water, so our kids take fluoride tablets daily. If I started using fluoride toothpaste & they 'accidentally' ingested some, couldn't I just skip the fluoride tabs? They swallow those ! Hmmm...I'll have to look into that.....anyone out there know? Is there a difference in the fluoride used for the tabs vs the toothpaste?