October 6th, 2017
“Baby teeth are temporary, so why are they so important?” Sometimes, baby teeth are overlooked in how vital they are to a smile that lasts a lifetime. But, make no mistake: baby teeth are incredibly important to your child’s smile development, and overall health.
Baby Teeth Help Smile Alignment
Baby teeth are temporary, however, if a baby tooth is knocked out too soon, it can lead to other teeth crowding the vacant spot. This can cause alignment issues when the permanent tooth begins to emerge, and could cause crooked teeth and biting problems. If your child has a misaligned smile, or biting problems, then the issues will need to be corrected with oral appliances later down the road – and that can cost a lot of money.
While caring for baby teeth won’t prevent the future need of an oral appliance, it certainly helps lower the likelihood that your child will need one as they get older.
Avoiding Cavities Helps Kids Stay in School
On average, oral health ailments cause children to miss just over two days of school every year. According to one study, more than 51 million school hours in the United States are lost each year due to dental disease. Lost school hours are closely linked to poor academic performance, and can cause your child’s grades to suffer. This means that your child’s oral health is directly related to their academic performance.
Additionally, tooth decay is painful and distracting, and can cause your child to lose focus in school or even prevent them from participating in the class discussion.
Cavities Can Leave Children more Prone to Infection
Cavities and infected teeth are riddled with unhealthy bacteria. If left untreated, a tooth infection can cause a deeper infection in the pulp tissue. This may result in a hospital trip or medical emergency, according to the AAPD. Additionally, severe cavities and tooth decay are major causes of tooth loss, which makes the body much more prone to infection.
By preventing cavities in baby teeth, you can help your child avoid more serious complications later on.
How to Care for Baby Teeth
Avoiding cavities begins with proper, routine oral care. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry advises that everyone brushes their teeth twice per day, for two minutes each session. By brushing for the proper amount of time, your child can clean all of the bad bacteria off their teeth, and help prevent cavities. Be sure that they brush the entire surface of their teeth - including the backside, which is often neglected.
Use Fluoridated Toothpaste
Toothpaste with fluoride strengthens enamel through a process called remineralization – which can help prevent cavities. When choosing fluoridated toothpaste, make sure that it has the ADA seal of approval to ensure that it has been rigorously tested and approved.
Visit our Dental Practice
Tooth decay is the most widespread diseases among children today – and it’s almost entirely preventable. Tooth decay (cavities) is 5 times more common than asthma, 4 times more common than childhood obesity and 20 times more common childhood diabetes.
Schedule an appointment with our office if your child is experiencing tooth pain or sensitivity, as these symptoms may indicate that they have a cavity that needs to be fixed by a pediatric dentist. We will provide a treatment plan that works for your child’s needs, and sets them up to achieve a healthy smile that can last a lifetime.
September 21st, 2017
Brushing alone only covers about 1/3 of the total tooth surface area in your mouth, which leaves a lot of space for plaque – and cavities – to thrive. Flossing removes plaque buildup in the places where toothbrushes can’t reach – between teeth. But, more than 50% of American don’t floss daily, and that’s a problem. Flossing is simple, and will help your entire family. To better care for our patients, we’ve decided to write 3 simple steps that will help you master flossing.
3 Steps to Master Flossing
1 - Floss Once Every Day
The best way to become a master flosser is to floss daily. Repetition is the key to mastering anything, but also fully cleaning your teeth. A full flossing routine should include cleaning teeth below the gum line, where dental plaque can go unseen and unreached by toothbrushes. If left untreated, plaque buildup near the root of teeth can lead to gingivitis and tooth loss. Bleeding gums when brushing or flossing are often an early sign of gum disease. People who regularly brush and floss their teeth suffer from gum disease and tooth decay far less than those that do not.
2 - Slow Down
If you move quickly from tooth to tooth, then you risk not fully cleaning the tartar buildup on your teeth. Remember: flossing cleans debris from between your teeth, but also helps remove a thin, damaging layer of plaque that can lead to cavities. We suggest spending about 10 seconds flossing each side of your teeth.
3 - Floss the Whole Tooth
A lot of people only floss one side of each of their teeth – focusing on the gaps between teeth as singular spaces to be cleaned. Again, flossing fights plaque buildup on teeth, so focus on flossing each side of your tooth below the gum line.
How to Floss Children’s Teeth
Here’s a basic guide to flossing your children’s teeth:
1. Begin flossing your children’s teeth when any two teeth touch.
2. Use about 12-18 inches of dental floss. If that is too difficult, try using flossing tools like soft flossing picks.
3. Use wide, flat dental tape to floss your children’s teeth. The width of the floss helps with the larger spaces in children’s teeth.
4. Be gentle when flossing children’s teeth, and avoid applying too much pressure on their gums.
5. Floss both sides of the teeth, and make sure to gently dip beneath the gum lime.
Visit Our Office
Did you know that cavities are the largest disease affecting children? Don’t let that discourage you: flossing is almost entirely preventable. Visit our office so that we can help your child fight cavities, and provide them with an oral health plan that will give them a healthy smile for years to come.
September 7th, 2017
Is your child considering playing soccer, volleyball, or football this year? If so, then it is absolutely imperative that they have a mouth guard. This year, nearly 25 million children in the United States will play youth sports, and 1 in 3 young athletes will suffer an accidental injury. Mouth guards go a long way in protecting your child from suffering an oral injury. Here’s how.
What are Mouth Guards?
Mouth guards are composite inserts that act as a cushion for teeth and the facial area. Mouth guards – sometimes called mouth protectors – work by helping cushion a blow to the face, and minimizing the risk of broken teeth, or lacerating a lip, tongue or cheek. Did you know that the CDC estimates that more than 3 million teeth are knocked out at youth sporting events? Mouth guards work to prevent tooth loss and other facial injuries.
There are a variety of mouth guards available today, and some are more effective than others.
Stock Mouth Guards
The most inexpensive, and least effective mouth guards are stock mouth guards. Stock mouth guards can be very bulky and ill-fitting, and they can make breathing very difficult. You can find them at most major sporting goods stores for very reasonable prices. We advise getting these if your child is in a sport with less contact, but for contact intensive sports like football or hockey, a better fitting model will protect their teeth much more effectively.
Boil and Bite Mouth Guards
The middle-of-the-road option in both price and quality is the boil and bite mouth guard. Boil and bite guards are made of rubber composites that become malleable when heated. When you buy one of these, they are packaged as “U” shaped pieces of rubber without indentation. After you boil it (read the manufacturer’s instructions before boiling) you child firmly bites into the guard so that it molds to fit her teeth. Boil and bite guards can be found at many major sporting goods stores, and they provide sufficient enough protection for high contact sports.
Custom-made Mouth Guards
The best fitting and most effective mouth guards are custom-made mouth guards, which can be made for your child by a dentist that offers the service. Custom mouth guards are available in multiple materials, and affords them a mouth protector that is completely personalized to fit their teeth. Custom mouth guards fit the best and provide the most advanced protection.
Which Sports Require Mouth Guards?
The American Dental Association recommends wearing custom mouth guards for these popular sports: basketball, boxing, field hockey, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, racquetball, roller hockey, rugby, skateboarding, skiing, soccer, volleyball, water polo and wrestling, among others. This is just a recommendation by the ADA. If you’re unsure about whether or not your child is required to wear a mouth guard, consult the rules of the sport.
Ask Us about Mouth Guards
Dental injuries account for nearly 20% of all sports related injuries, and your child is 60 times more likely to sustain damage to their teeth when they aren’t wearing a mouth guard.
As your child’s pediatric dentist, we care about the protection of your child’s teeth and smile. Call our office today and ask us if we provide mouth guards for your student athlete.
August 17th, 2017
A nutritious diet is a great way to help your child get healthier teeth. Whether it’s snacking on granola bars, or choosing fruit instead of potato chips, there are endless dietary actions that you can take to improve your child’s health. But, before you overhaul their diet, you should beware of certain “healthy” foods that are terrible for teeth.
Granola Cereal
Granola is typically advertised as a healthier alternative to cereal that people can add into their milk or yogurt for an added dietary benefit. But here’s what they’re not advertising: granola typically contains high amounts of sugar and fat. The added sugar can lead to tooth decay, and the high density of calories can leave your child hungry and cause them to overeat.
If you do choose granola, compare the nutritional values of your options and choose the one with the highest fiber content, and lowest amount of sugar.
Citrus Fruits
Fruit can be great for improving health, but it can sometimes damage teeth. Citric fruits like oranges, grapefruits, lemon and tangerines contain a high amount of acid that can lead to tooth enamel erosion. If you serve your child citrus fruits, rinse their mouth out with water after they’re done eating to wash the acid away, and help prevent cavities from forming.
Trail Mix
If you decide to serve your child trail mix, look out for unhealthy ingredients that can add unhealthy amounts of sugar and fat to their plate. Try to avoid trail mix that has chocolate, dried fruit, and candy. Look for mixes that are unflavored and don’t contain any added sweets.
Dried Fruit
Dried fruit contains much higher levels of sugar than their natural counterparts, and none of the water that helps make fruit so healthy. Let’s use prunes as an example. Prunes are just dried plums, except just one cup of prunes contains more than 400 calories and 45 grams of sugar. However, one plum contains just 75 calories and 16 grams of sugar.
Additionally, dried fruit can stick around on teeth long after snacking has concluded, and cause prolonged acid attacks that can erode enamel and lead to cavities. The bottom line is that you should choose fresh fruit and not dried fruit.
“Enhanced” Water
Enhanced or “nutritional” water is not good for you at all. In fact, one 20-ounce bottle of Vitamin Water contains more sugar than the recommended daily amount for adults. Nutritional water may taste good, but there’s simply too much sugar in them to be considered healthy.
Our advice is to serve your child normal water, which contains no calories or sugar. Additionally, regular water helps rinse debris from teeth and stimulate saliva production, both of which aid in the fight against cavities.
Does Your Child Have a Healthy Diet?
A mouth-healthy diet is an important part of maintaining optimal oral health. If you’re concerned about how your child’s diet may be affecting their teeth, then bring them into our office. We will evaluate their smile and offer a variety of treatment options that fit their case.
