I can not, get my 10yo to brush his teeth. He has thick orange goop all over them and his breath is like rotten garbage. He has adhd and ODD, and every morning before school is just a full on abusive (on his part) break down of threats, wotch leads to refusal to get ready for school, and him hitting into siblings n throwing things around. last dentist app, the dentist pretty muchly told me I have to make him brush his teeth. I felt so judged and when I told him about the struggles. he made me feel like a neglectful mother. I cant exactly sit on my son and forcefully brush his teeth for him. He is medicated but even getting him to take them of a morning is a challenge as he pretends to swallow them or refuses to put them on his mouth. Hes had 2 adult teeth removed due to them rotting. Hes strong and is retaliating violently towards me at times so what am I meant to do
4 Replies
I gave up on forcing him to do it every morning as you said, it's a struggle just to get him ready for school. My son is ADHD too. Instead he does it in the shower of a night, it took a few goes to find a toothbrush and paste he liked but hey once a day at least is better then not at all. He's ended up with an electric toothbrush, seems to make him feel like he doesn't have to do all the hard work. Lol. Have you tried him with any mouth washes? Could be away to at least get him started.
I’d first change dentists. Find a dentist who has a good reputation for working with people with kids with a diagnosis.
There are things a good dentist can do, to help your sons teeth last longer while being understanding.
Don’t brush teeth on school days. Take the battle out of those days, a battle you wouldn’t win anyway.
Make brushing teeth as easy as possible. We use an electric toothbrush, I know others use a ‘chewy toothbrush’ basically the child just chews on it and it does all the work. Give him a choice, you can brush your teeth with either of these. Don’t expect a full brush. Just putting the brush to his teeth without toothpaste for a few seconds is a win. Build from there.
Have you tried one of these https://www.toothcleaner.com.au/products/360-automatic-ultrasonic-toothb... there’s many brands rolling around now and they just place it in your mouth and it cleans your teeth automatically
Get back to all your strategies for for working with him on achieving any task.
Dont expect him to brush twice daily instantly but make sure the time is made and the effort is made twice daily. Explain why he needs to be on board with this. Show him his teeth. Show him photos of people with bad teeth. I explain to my kids that people dont want to be close to someone that smells terrible. We all have bad breath, but we fix it by brushing.
Explain the dentist visits and costs to him as an adult. And explain how losing adult teeth affects your face, the whole structure as well as what you can eat and the time and money you have to put into dentures that will never be anything like real teeth.
Get him on board first, then set and encourage the routine.