After eruption of the first tooth, parents should clean the teeth on a regular, scheduled basis. One easy method is to have the parents sit facing each other with their knees touching. The infant can be cradled between the knees with one parent (at the foot end) supporting the child and the other parent (at the head end) reflecting the lips and cheeks and cleaning the teeth. Cleaning is best accomplished at this age with a small, soft gauze wrapped around the finger. Toothpaste is not reccommended at this stage and actually make cleaning and evaluation of plaque removal more difficult. Begun early, tooth cleaning should become an established daily routine. With erruption of additional teeth, cleaning will soon discover that effective cleaning can be accomplished in a short time each day. Parents should continue to brush their children's teeth at least once a day well into the fifth year. Until the child can fully bathe himself alone and attend to his other washing and cleaning unaided, he cannot be expected to do a good job of tooth cleaning alone.
