Are there any good ways to get your children to brush? our eight year old son always "forgets" to brush his teeth. are there any good techniques to make sure he follows through with this? do i just have to sit there and watch him?

Children : Children are easily distracted (some adults, too !) and they sometimes need the gentle prodding of a watchful parent. Some children easily make it part of their bedtime routine, some will need guidance. Have him get into a certain routine every night and maybe he won't forget as much. Not to rush the maturity of your son, and on a personal note, when my son hit puberty and took an interest in girls, his personal grooming habits became very important. Hope this helps.

Colorado : Colorado springs, a fun and inexpensive electric toothbrush will help. Make sure it has a two minute timer and he uses it. Another helpful hint is a rinse called agent cool blue. He first brushes then rinses with it and you review where the blue sticks to his teeth. All those blue areas around his gums is where he missed brushing. Then he goes back and cleans those areas. This way he is given immediate feedback that helps him to be thorough and refine his technique. Hope this is helpful, michael i. Wollock, dmd, agd fellow dentistry at suburban square 610-649-0313 www.Dentistryatsuburbansquare.Com.

Emphasizing : Emphasizing the importance of tooth cleaning and buying nice new toothbrushes and fancy tasting toothpaste and floss certainly focuses attention on oral hygiene. A nice new brush at a birthday party or in a christmas stocking or as a fifth or sixth night present at hannukah also has a similar effect. So there is a start. We used a power brush and talked our way through what we were doing for years until our children wanted to do it themselves. Then when they were doing it themselves we had a brief inspection and modification as needed. That is our parental responsibility. We can not allow our children to forget, we must remind them and check until we know they are doing it correctly. Do you give your child an allowance. They like that. No brushing... No allowance this week. Simple! dr neil mcleod dds dentistry that lasts - quality that counts.