How to teach your child to brush their teeth 2026

It is very important that our children acquire good dental hygiene habits from a very young age and, to begin with, children must learn to brush their teeth. Although at first they will need our help, little by little you will see how they acquire independence. If we do it with some enthusiasm and include it in the list of tasks before going to sleep, surely many times they will be the ones who say that 'let's brush their teeth'.

Tips for the child to learn

Before that moment arrives, there are certain factors that we must take into account and which we summarize below.

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• To awaken their interest, we must buy them a soft-bristle children's brush that a doll carries.
• Let's clean our teeth with them so they can see how to do it. Let's teach them to always follow the same order when brushing, without forgetting the external, internal and horizontal part.
• If they get tired before having reviewed all the pieces, we can propose a pact: read them a story while they brush. The rule is that they will not be able to finish until we have finished reading the story.
• It is advisable to always brush your teeth in the presence of an adult. If you do not have time to monitor them well, a single thorough brushing at night is preferable to two or three poorly done brushes a day.
• One very important thing: we must get each child used to eating nothing after brushing their teeth.

Teach him step by step

Although it may seem like a very simple and necessary task to adults, we must not forget that children do not think like we do. Therefore, for them to internalize the concept of brushing their teeth daily, we must go step by step. Here are some guidelines to help us.

• To begin with, you can take it as a game in front of the mirror: it consists of sticking out your tongue, opening your mouth wide and using the brush inside it without setting a time limit. If they want to do it for a couple of minutes, even better.
• Children love to do grown-up things, so we can remind them that brushing their teeth is a grown-up task, with grown-up gadgets. If brushing their teeth makes them feel big, not only will they not resist doing it, but they will be the ones to demand it after meals (as long as the alternative plan is not more fun...).
• You have to let them try, even with some fluoride paste, even if dad and mom are there to help them.
• We must explain to them how they should do it well. With a lot of patience we will tell them that the brush should go from top to bottom and that they should also brush their tongue. Even if at first they do not follow the instructions to the letter, little by little they will learn to do it.

Like everything, brushing your teeth requires practice and patience. With a mix of both, success is guaranteed.