What should I do if my child does not like brushing their teeth?

It depends on the age of the child. If they are young, I would usually tell the parents that you just have to do it. It's good for them. It is like getting a vaccination. When they are older there are other ways like using electric toothbrushes and putting stickers and sort of making it into a game, but in the end, the parents still have to check and supervise.

In fact, a lot of times, these appointments are squeezed in during school. Sometimes parents might be stressed, but the thing we usually do is treatment and the child might have never come in the clinic before, making it hard for us as we do not know what the parents promised the child and when we break the promises, it’s hard to rebuild the trust.

The thing that is important is mental and emotional development. Often children have a traumatic experience and develop a dental phobia that might go well into their adulthood. It is important when we see children that we make an effort to develop a friendship with them to develop trust and rapport with the child. In many cases, this is more important than rushing in and fixing a small dental problem. We have to balance trust and problem-solving. Some parents can be hard on the child and they scream and shout for their child to keep still and the dentist has to hold the child and force our way in just to pull out a tooth or do a filling. I guarantee if we do that the child will not want to cooperate and come back again.

In any kind of emergency, like if the child has massive infection or trauma, we have no choice but to treat straightway. The overarching principle is that we try not to traumatize the child and develop a friendship and trust with them and the parents. Some parents are not helping by threatening the child, saying that if they don’t brush, they will pluck out the teeth.