Brushing Teeth

I remembered slightly more than a year ago when we started Victoria on a strict regime of brushing her teeth morning and night. We bought her many colourful toothbrushes, from Colgate's Pokemon range to Chicco's toothbrush. The toothpaste were from Chicco, and she had a choice of banana and raspberry flavour. Our friend didnt like to brush teeth. She'd sometimes find reasons like not liking the toothpaste flavour and wanting mango flavour (because it's one of her favourite fruits), and we had to search baby shops locally and even during our trip to Singapore for that, but unfortunately the brands don't sell mango flavour, so we ended up with tropical fruit flavour... that's the closest we can get.

Victoria was stubborn and did not like to brush her teeth, especially in the mornings. We tried compliments, we tried bribery (that she can eat sweets after she brush her teeth), we tried comparison (that even her older friend Jemmi, Popo and Gong Gong... etc all brush teeth), we tried a little fear (that if she doesn't, she may get broken teeth or worse, loose her teeth like Gong Gong. Or if the germs make her gums painful, we may have to bring her to see the dentist). Sigh, not all methods are the best, but we were out of wits.

I remembered the stress, the trauma (for her) as we had to resort to scoldings and force, the tears (as she relented and was outpowered), and the regrets (for it was such an unpleasant experience for us all). We would spend at least 15 minutes just to "counsel" her into brushing her teeth, which would normally end up with the scoldings.

I think how we came to this stage was the mistake we made in not starting her early in oral hygiene, by diligently brushing her gums, cleaning her tongue and brushing her teeth when her pearly whites start appearing. We thought it was still early, and only started when she had more teeth. Moreover, we only saw her on weekends. This time around, with William, we bought the finger brush for his gums and teeth even before he was born, and admittedly I've done this only occassionally.

Victoria now has no problem brushing her teeth, and does so without much delay. From the time she has her face wiped, she takes less than 10 minutes to clean her teeth, urine and change her clothes, and she's out of the room to have her breakfast. At night, the maid helps her with the cleaning up, and Victoria cooperates. Sometimes playful, but still, it's now a joy to brush teeth. She even reminds Daddy and myself to brush our teeth.

She changes her toothbrush almost every 3-4 months, as recommended by dentists, and gets to pick her toothbrush. At this time, it's Mickey Mouse.