My ASD 6 yo hates spitting out toothpaste

[Anonymous]

We have had some struggles with tooth brushing but are now in a place where she usually brushes once a day with us getting the toothbrush ready and her brushing. We do want to work on getting her to brush a twice a day. But the other issue is that she won't spit out her toothpaste or rinse. She just hates it. I don't put a lot of toothpaste on the brush for this reason. I understand this won't make her ill but might cause white spots on her teeth. Anyone been through this?

[Anonymous]

FWIW- I was like this as a kid. I couldn't stand spitting out toothpaste. I just swallowed it. Eventually I got over it- like as a teenager.

[Anonymous]

It's fine.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to both, this makes me feel better

[Anonymous]

Have you experimented with a milder flavor toothpaste?

I kind of hate Listerine as a grownup but my dentist suggested it.

My kids used Tom's of Maine Strawberry flavor with fluoride. There is also a non-fluoride version. It's a little gritty but doesn't taste like a stingy mint or a disgusting candy (like some kid toothpastes).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you experimented with a milder flavor toothpaste?

I kind of hate Listerine as a grownup but my dentist suggested it.

My kids used Tom's of Maine Strawberry flavor with fluoride. There is also a non-fluoride version. It's a little gritty but doesn't taste like a stingy mint or a disgusting candy (like some kid toothpastes).

We have tried a bunch of different toothpastes

[Anonymous]

My ASD kid is the same way. We just use a small amount of children’s toothpaste and he swallows it. I don’t think it’s a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Is kid willing to drink a sip of water and then spill into sink? That may be more pleasant than spitting.

Make sure you use no more than a pea size of toothpaste each brushing.

[Anonymous]

One of our kids was like this and didn't like to brush for this reason. There was only one toothpaste he could bear (tom's strawberry) and it passed by preteen years.

Ironically the one with ASD has the opposite issue: loves to spit as strongly as possible and has zero awareness or care about the mess she makes in the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

My brother is in his late 40s and profoundly disabled and he cannot spit out his toothpaste. His teeth are nice and white and have no spots. I think in his group home now they may wipe out his mouth after brushing but he lived at home till 19 and just used regular old crest and swallowed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of our kids was like this and didn't like to brush for this reason. There was only one toothpaste he could bear (tom's strawberry) and it passed by preteen years.

Ironically the one with ASD has the opposite issue: loves to spit as strongly as possible and has zero awareness or care about the mess she makes in the bathroom.

Ha

Yeah we really want DD to brush her teeth and if we push spitting too hard we'll go back to power struggles about brushing at all

[Anonymous]

Not sure how desperate you are but at one point we used tooth wipes. You can get them very mildly flavored and it’s a different feeling to sort of wipe off the extra.