“No more iPads!”. Which is the mantra used in my house to get malleable children. “Oh noooo!”. The kids protest and reluctantly do as they do not want. Everything takes one million years.
I put my hand up for being the worst mother in the world. Feeling completely incompetent that I find it hard to argue with “the apple of my eye” about: he has to brush his teeth. I insist and check up and when we found out he needed to floss well. Then he did. Or I did. Or his father did.
Trying to do the best I can. Trying to do all the things that need doing to feel “Sorta Super Mum-ish”. Am I doing too much. I have had a cry because, I can’t fulfil the expectations of my own ego. I remember, my dear Dad, (who is no longer with us). Telling me to brush my teeth. He told me to look after my teeth.
I cry to my own Mother. Nanna to the boys! She points out that “it is not the end of the world”. It’s just a filling. Well, 8 actually!
The kids going to have a mouth full of metal. I’m sure of it.
We humored ourselves when when he had his first dental work that this was his pirate tooth, and he showed it off. We were all proud of his pirate tooth. If you have it then flaunt it right! I didn’t expect the trend to carry on. My husband pointed out there is far worse conditions so I must be thankful. I must be grateful even! We have hopefully nipped it in the bud or the rather large holes in his molers to prevent the nerve becoming exposed.
“My Bundle of Joy” was really good with his dental work today. The dentist did allot of work. She had to numb his mouth with a needle and drill. Uuggg!!!! And he let her do it. 8 fillings not because I don’t care about insisting on brushing. He has visited the dentist three times. At the end of his appointment the dentist told me she had to do four fillings which is two more than we thought.
Dentist orders: Stop with the fizzy drinks as carbonated water and sugar effect the soft gums and teeth. If he has a soft drink, then we have to wash his mouth out with water. Limit sweets. Well, he loves Donuts from Coles! If he eats a sweet with sugar he has to brush and floss because he has soft teeth. First teeth. Baby teeth. You would think this does not matter if he loses a tooth or two because he will get new ones. But having the teeth there shape his mouth for the next teeth apparently.
We ramped brushing up to fit twice a day. How to fit it in!
And now we must floss as well because it’s not enough. I insist that he must brush, he gets all stroppy, not letting me.
Trying to educate the boy about the importance of looking after his teeth is hard. He says he does not care. I tell him that he will care once he feels the pain of a rotted tooth. That is a great pain indeed.
I do remember some years ago it was identified the first time he had some filling work done. We had to see the peadiatric dentist who sent him to the hospital so he could be put under a general anaesethetic to get the first filling done because some decay had been detected. We were wary of it. I remember we could not commence with procedure on the specific set date because he had a cold which was a contra-indication for surgery We had to go back a second time. While my “bundle of joy” was having the procedure Mum and Dad had a coffee downstairs. We were back with him when he opened his eyes to love the little cherub.
ASD Supernova 2 Shining suns 
Hi, I can relate to your thoughts on tooth brushing and how difficult it can be when sensory issues are too much. I recall, not proudly, having my son lay on the floor while I straddled him so I could pin down his arms to brush his teeth. The saddest part is that I would say, “ok, time to brush teeth” and he would lay down on the floor for it to happen. While recalling this experience makes me very sad, I am at the same time very proud that my son now brushes his own teeth twice a day. I think sometimes we go through the hard stuff to get to where our kids need to be.
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