Toothpaste?

What kind of toothpaste do your 3/4 yo use? My kids still use the toddler kind, because they don't know how to spit out and still swallow it, but the dentist said that fluoride toothpaste is a must... should I just alternate or something?

 

I think we moved to regular toothpaste at 4. Before then it was the toddler kind, but they had to practice spitting it out too.

 

My dentist suggested getting a children's flouride rinse and dipping the toothbrush in it and brushing with that. Then you're covering their teeth with it but it's not too much and basically as much as would be left in your mouth from mouthwash. I've used that with my kids til they were regularly able to spit and not swallow... Somewhere around 4-5 depending on the child.

 

We use children's toothpaste (so it's still bubblegum/strawberry/ or some fruity flavor). My kids have been using it for about 7-8 months because my Mom accidentally bought the wrong toothpaste when she had them for a few days (we had forgotten to send toothpaste down). So it was her who taught them to spit out the toothpaste. We started out with a little bit, let them brush,spit out and then we go over their teeth (and sing a song while we do it so we know we've brushed enough) and then they spit and rinse out their mouths.

 

We recently switched them. Not because our dentist insisted, he didn't, but the toddler's non-fluoride toothpaste tube was constantly filled with air bubbles and it's expensive. We practiced spitting by telling them they are no longer allowed to swallow the children's non-fluoride toothpaste. Most of the time, after they saw my brush my teeth a few times, they started to spit on their own. I just encouraged it. Once they spit out their toothpaste almost every time, then I started using the fluoride toothpaste. I use very little on the brush so if they don't spit out everything, there won't be a lot left in their mouths. They are also learning to sip water, rinse, and spit without swallowing. They are doing a great job! Still, occasionally, some toothpaste makes it's way into their bellies, but only very little. Not that i'm OK with that, but it's better than them swallowing a whole mouthful of the stuff. That's only happened once. I know when I was young, I did swallow toothpaste. Now I have fluorosis in my teeth. Not much I can do about that. So I got white spots on my teeth now.

Ahh well. Just do the best you can and make the switch. I'm not sure why your dentist is insisting on changing to fluoride toothpaste. Fluoride is now considered to not be as good for you as it originally was thought of. But, it is still something the teeth need, just not in large amounts. It's still in the tap water and that is something very often used for cooking and for drinking. It's in most mouth washes, but now some mouth washes are without it. The fluoride you get from those sources should be enough, but brushing with fluoride toothpaste is fine. Just rinse out as best as you can.

 

I forgot to add that my kids have flouride tablets they get once a day, by prescription. We're on well water so it's not fluoridated.

 

My dentist said that as long as you use just a tiny smear of toothpaste & are working on getting them to spit, the amount they may swallow is not anything to be concerned about.

They removed fluoride from the Calgary water supply last year so our dentist encouraged us to switch to fluoride toothpaste for the girls.

 

we use tom's w/flouride. dentist said flouride's important but you don't want it swallowed, so yea, they do have to learn. mine still swallow it sometimes, but mostly they've gotten used to the new, big boy routine (brushing teeth on their step stools in the bathroom--as opposed to in their beds in their bedrooms like li'l babies).

good luck!
jl

 

We use tom's or Burt's bees here. Both are natural but still have fluoride. Jazz was having issues with taste on other tooth paste. Not sure what was causing the issues but it was making teeth cleaning time terror. Tons we have is strawberry and Burt's bees is orange and both have a good flavor. Also no problems eating or drinking afterwards taste wise

 

We alternate fluoride and non-fluoride toothpaste in our house - non-fluoride in the morning, fluoride at night. And we just use a little bit of the fluoride stuff at night, smaller than pea-size. So I don't worry too much about them swallowing it, which they always do. It's really hard to get good information about fluoride these days. One so-called reliable source reports that we're getting way too much; another equally reliable source reports that the so-called dangers are way overblown.

 

I think we started using regular toothpaste 6 months ago or so, maybe a year ago. We also have them swish with bubblegum flavored Act mouthwash for kids.