My Seven year old, Son, John, still gives me an extremely hard time brushing his teeth.

Now, he flosses & brushes, I hope what I'm about to tell you helps in some way:

1.) Buy a Toothbrush, that vibrates, and that features his favorite superhero, or cartoon character.

2.) Get a toothpaste with a mild fruity flavor that you, yourself would like.

3.) use floss sticks

4.) buy a timer, like a miniature plastic visual hourglass, no more than 2 minutes, And reward him for brushing for the whole 2 minutes, & for using the timer.

5.) Be patient & help him when he requires help.

Please don't hesitate to email me for any help you may need, I am an advocate for children with special needs & a support parent as well & I would be happy to help

We brush together--he watches me or dad and imitates the motions. After 2 years of this, he is now telling me to copy his tooth-brushing instead of the other way round. It took him a long time (like, 2 years?!) to get the dexterity to brush well by himself, but I think it was important for him to have the control instead of having one of us brush for him. Good luck! If the live copying doesn't work, perhaps try making a video for him to emulate? Then you could even put it in slow motion.

Try changing toothpaste. My son uses Sensodyne because the others seem to bother him.

Our pediatric dentist gave my son a special toothbrush. I don't know what the proper name is but he gives it to his patient who he knows there is a special problem in getting brushing completed. The toothbrush has the normal head with the bristles that brush the top surface but it also has two plastic wings on the sides of the tooth brush with bristles facing each other. So, when you put the toothbrush in your child's mouth it adjust, with the expandable wings on the sides, so that there are bristles on the sides and chewing surface of the tooth all at the same time. With each back and forth movement to brush the teeth you are getting all surface at once. You do not have to brush all the sides, then the insides and then the chewing surface. The opposite end of the toothbrush has a tongue brush on it. My son's brushing time is quickly taken care of and he quickly relaxed into letting me brush his teeth.

It may be the toothpaste. My son hates mint. It actually is an item he is reactive to so we have removed it from his diet. He brushes with bubble gum flavored tooth paste. He hated strawberry all natural toothpaste. Try a different flavor and see if that helps! Our dentist showed him how tooth brushing looked using a pair of false teeth; since then he insists he cannot brush his teeth because the Dentist told him parents need to do it, and we can brush his teeth so he will sit with his mouth open. Get some fake teeth to show him what you are doing. I have him brush his with me emulating how I am doing it - and that works well; then I follow up with brushing afterwards. Perhaps make tooth brushing a focus item. He gets a small toy every time he brushes his teeth. He gets stickers or some kind of chart filled towards a larger toy every time he brushes his teeth. I am not beyond bribery, and it does seem to work well. Once he gets the habit, it should stay. Also, when teeth are coming in - or falling out - it can be more painful. It may be that teeth are coming in, which is causing discomfort and that brushing is painful as well. Just something to keep in mind as he matures. My son had a headache last night, and instead of allergies, had a loose tooth this morning - I think he really had jaw pain, not head pain and was not able to explain it real well. I gave him Tylenol to help with the pain, but at 3, he may not be able to tell you he has pain so you may need to just be extra gentle. Best of luck on your Journey!