The minute your child sees you approaching, pandemonium strikes. A big chase around the furniture or behind curtains ensues and very often having your resistant child firmly in your grasp will evoke even more tantrums.

You know it happens… and all because you are wielding nothing but a harmless toothbrush in your hand.

Many parents will agree that getting their young children to brush their teeth can be quite an anguishing experience.

“It was most difficult to get my daughter to brush her teeth when she was between 12 to 18 months old as she was very bothered about discomfort and saliva drooling,” recalled Mrs Lee, a mother whose daughter is now in lower primary school.

Similarly, another parent who wanted to be known only as Mrs Boey said: “At the age of about two or three, my kids hated brushing as they didn’t like getting wet or swallowing toothpaste.”

Even the most tolerant mum or dad may lose patience when Junior’s anti-oral hygiene antics wears on long after bed time or the time to head to school each morning.

In a comment thread on the KiasuParents forum, a mother once shared the harsh words meted out on her kid to drive home the importance of regular teeth brushing. “Don’t like to brush your teeth properly? OK, let’s visit the dentist and pull them (your teeth) all out,” she wrote on the forum. She also added: “Sometimes we (as parents) must really put our foot down.”

Others like Mrs Shirley Tay, resort to “giving the harsh truth”, so to speak. “Occasionally when they resist, we show them videos on tooth decay and dentists performing teeth extraction to educate them about the importance of good dental habits,” said Mrs Tay.

The mother will also show her three toddlers the condition of their teeth before and after brushing, especially after they eat chocolate or dark-coloured biscuits, to encourage them to keep their teeth clean.

But getting kids to clean their molars and incisors need not always require gross-out methods or putting up a fight. You can actually put a smile to your kid’s dental habits by injecting an element of fun into the routine. Think brushing to cute nursery rhymes, using nice-tasting/smelling toothpastes and attractive toothbrushes or even turning it into a time of bonding by brushing your teeth together with your child.

Mrs Lee suggests that the new fruity toothpaste flavours may be more agreeable with tots. One of Mrs Tay’s daughters uses a toothbrush with her favourite superhero character.

The use of high-tech tools is another sure-fire way to pique childrens’ interest in cleaning their teeth – up, down and all around.

How about an electric toothbrush with some Disney magic thrown, or should we say, sprinkled, in?

Kids will love the fun of the Oral-B Stages Power Toothbrush, and you’ll love the clean. Not only does it come in a variety of favourite Disney characters, this range of powerful and advanced battery-operated children’s brushes helps to thoroughly clean teeth with its rotating brush head while making it gentle with extra-soft bristles. Moreover, raised centre-row bristles are better positioned to clean chewing surfaces and longer interdental tips take care of those hard-to-reach areas between teeth.

Your baby’s gums are too tender or mouth is too small for an electric toothbrush, you say? Oral-B has a Stages® toothbrush to meet the specific needs that your child’s age and development demands; from 4 months until 8+ years old.

See full range of Stages® toothbrushes here.

Complement brushing time with the Disney Magic Timer™ app by Oral-B, which encourages kids to brush their teeth for a whole two minutes, as recommended by dentists worldwide. Download and install it free on any iOS or Android device from the Apple app store or Google Play, and see how the morning and evening routine by the bathroom sink can become a real game.

Simply set up a profile for your child and then let kiddo choose his or her preferred Disney or Marvel characters available in the app. Minnie/Mickey Mouse ©Disney, Avengers ©MARVEL, Cars ©Disney/Pixar – there are many characters to choose from.

Finally, connect your kid’s profile by scanning your Oral-B Disney-themed toothpaste or toothbrush and get your kid to start brushing when the timer begins. For the next two minutes, a toothbrush in the screen will start uncovering a Disney picture and the longer your child spends on brushing will earn him or her more “prizes” to their “Magic Album” collection.

Download Disney Magic Timer™ app by Oral-B here.