The One Where He Brushes His Teeth

Yesterday I couldn't get into Axel's mouth. He just didn't trust me enough to allow that yet. I didn't really expect him to, but it never hurts to try. I did attempt to brush his teeth but without any success.

I got him a spinny toothbrush. For a child with fine motor delays these are great, because if the child can at least get the toothbrush into the right area, the spinning head does a lot of the work. It's not ideal, but it's better than not brushing at all. (Angela has an Oral B electric toothbrush and it's been great with her braces.)

Tonight he let me in his mouth. Not a lot, but enough to see his bicuspids are broken in half vertically, and he's missing his upper laterals and cuspids. They appear to have either been pulled, or rotted and fallen out themselves. His mouth has to be sore, unless the nerves are completely gone. He doesn't have bad breath though, so who knows.

He let me brush his teeth first, but not knowing how orally defensive he is I didn't turn the toothbrush on. When I was done brushing I let him have a turn, and turned it on. TWENTY MINUTES he sat with that toothbrush in his mouth. He didn't move it around a lot, just a little. Still, I'm impressed. And he was so darned cute I had to record it! I love how he says goodbye at the end. ;-)