How to Help Children Remember How Long to Brush Their Teeth

Teaching children proper dental care doesn't have to be a chore. As soon as a child gets his baby teeth, start making twice-daily brushing a natural part of his routine. Once a parent stops supervising the brushing, however, a child may be tempted to breeze through the routine in a hurry. Dentists recommend brushing for two minutes twice a day, so try little tricks to be sure that every one of the child's teeth get the required attention.

Things You'll Need

• Egg timer or kitchen timer
• Child's toothbrush or automatic timer toothbrush

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Instructions

• 1

  Set a timer. Use an egg timer or a kitchen timer, setting it for two minutes. To be sure that all parts of the child's mouth get the same brushing time, set the timer for one minute for the top teeth and one minute for the bottom.

• 2

  Sing a song. The Alphabet Song lasts about 15 seconds. The child can sing it in her head, once for each section of her mouth -- right top outside, right top inside, and so on -- until all sections of her mouth are clean. Recordings usually last two minutes, so playing a favorite CD on a portable player could be fun for an older child.

• 3

  Count to 30. If the child can count up to 30, teach him to count 30 seconds on each quadrant of his mouth. He can start with the outside of the teeth on the right side, counting in his head, "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi," until he gets to 15. Then he switches to brush the inside of the teeth on the right, on up to "30 Mississippi." After that, he repeats the count for the other three sections of his mouth.

• 4

  Use a timer toothbrush. Several automatic toothbrush brands come with two-minute timers, while some have timers that can be set for 30-second intervals, allowing equal time for each quadrant of the mouth. These automatic brushes move at high speeds, providing from 3,000 to 40,000 brush strokes per minute, far more than can be done by hand. Children may find them fun to use.