powered toothbrushes and toddlers?

[amber5]

What age do we think it becomes appropriate for a child to use a powered toothbrush (under supervision of course).
TIA

[Ledodgyherring]

My dd got one for her 3rd Birthday and it's brilliant has a smaller head so it gets into the hard to reach places and cleans much more efficiently.

[secur]

My 4yo has one my 2 yo dosn't (although she wants one!)

I think it depends on when they can get the head into all their teeth properly (the heads on power brushes are quite large IMO) and when they can manage the weight as they are quite heavy.

HTH!

[TinyGang]

Make sure it's a proper powered toothbrush and not just novelty buzzing toothbrush.

My dd had a Groovy Chick one she used for about a year (we changed the heads) and ended up having a filling at the back because it turned out it really hadn't been doing much more than just 'buzz' when she used it.

She thought it was cleaning (so did I) so she wasn't really brushing and cleaning her teeth properly. We switched back double quick to an ordinary brush once I found out.

[amber5]

wow tiny, that's really - thanks for that

[Seona1973]

we use one for our 2 year old - it is an oral B battery operated one. She has a turn and then we have a proper brush afterwards. She also has a normal manual toothbrush and we let her choose which one she brushes her teeth with each time.

[hulababy]

DD has had one since turning 3yo I think, so about a year now. We supervise brushing and use it both turned on (when she does it herself for part of the session) and off (when me or DH do the proper brushing when she has finished). DD likes brushing her teeth, specially witht he pink brush in it's fairy stand

[Hattie05]

I have given in to dd's pleas twice now for one of these, and both times she has used it for about a week and then asked for a NORMAL one!!!

[serenity]

DSs (8 and nearly 6) have them and use them themselves. DD (2.5) has one but for my use only - she has a couple of ordinary ones which she uses to 'brush' her own teeth, and then I finish up with the powered one. It makes it a lot easier for me. She hates having her teeth cleaned (doesn't like standing still for that long ) so I know I can have a good go at them in a shorter amount of time.

[cece]

My two are under 5 and my dentist told me not to get them as they needed to learn to brush their teeth with a normal toothbrush first.

[Chuffed]

dd has just started using our oral b but with a children's head. She does about a minute then we do the last minute before it tells you 2mins are up.
Especially in the mornings say I brush then she brushes.
We still have her other one there but as we do a good brush too I can't see there is a problem.

When she is a bit older and can follow instructions she will also learn how to brush herself using a manual.