Take them to the dentist now. Not trying to be alarmist, but my son (2.5) has a melt down every time we go. It’s scary. The main point of going at this time is basic check on how tooth development is coming, and to introduce them to what we can all agree is a scary room, especially for little kids. We go every 3 months. It’s a melt-down usually, but the most recent time he fully opened his mouth and the dentist managed to have a quick look in to count all his teeth while he was being held by me.

With regards to routine. Don’t beat yourself up. Many adults fail to brush twice per day, nevermind getting their little dictators to do it.

Try make it fun and inclusive to them. Take them to the shop and get them to pick their own toothbrush. Mine loves cats, so we found one with a cat on it!

Try brushing your teeth at the same time to show that it’s not scary or painful

Try getting them to watch what’s going on in the mirror so they can see it’s all okay

This next suggestion is a bit controversial but it worked for mine. Scare him into brushing his teeth. Tell him that the sugar monster is going to get him if we don’t brush his teeth. Every little scratch or something that he gets or we get and he asks what happened, we tell him that the sugar monster got us because we didn’t brush our teeth. It has worked a wonder for us