Teeth are for everyone

February is National Dental Children’s Health Month but it’s a good time to think about the health of your mouth no matter what your age. Dental health is a life-long endeavor and teeth need to be taken care of at every step along the way.

Women thinking of getting pregnant should go for a dental visit! Men who plan to be dads should go, too. Anyone planning to care for a child can decrease the risk of that child getting cavities by taking care of problems with their own teeth.

During pregnancy, dental care is totally safe and regular dental visits are encouraged. Inflammation in the mouth can affect the unborn child and is even associated with preterm birth.

Babies are born with all their baby teeth under their gums. Infant gums should be wiped with a soft, damp cloth after feedings to keep the mouth healthy because teeth start to come in at about 5 months of age. Breastfeeding a child is important to a child’s mouth development as it helps widen the roof of the mouth and contributes to having teeth that come in straight. A baby should never be put to bed with a bottle with anything in it but water as this can cause cavities. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association recommend a child’s first dental visit by age 1.

From the first tooth on, teeth should be brushed daily with a smear of fluoride tooth paste up to age three, a pea-sized amount ages three and up, and with supervision of brushing till age nine. Baby teeth really matter because they help with speech development and nutrition, and since kids lose them slowly until age 11 or 12, baby teeth are needed to hold the space for the adult, permanent teeth coming in.

Children should be encouraged to eat whole fruits and vegetables and avoid sugary drinks. A rule to live by for dental health is water anytime, milk with meals, sweet drinks - skip it! This goes for adults as well because ‘we are what we eat and drink’ and good nutrition is as important to teeth as it is to the rest of the body.

Adolescents, teens, and college-aged kids can really slack-off with personal hygiene and should be encouraged to continue with daily brushing and flossing. Scheduling regular dental visits during school breaks and summer breaks is a good way to ensure any dental problems are caught early. Adults are busy and can slack off on regular dental visits and hygiene, too.

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There is especially a lack of flossing, which is needed to get rid of germs between teeth. Keeping floss handy and within reach at home, in the car, in your pack or purse, helps keep this good habit top of mind. Flossing keeps the gums healthy. Bleeding gums are not normal. Brushing and flossing regularly reduces bleeding and helps avoid worse problems with the gums and teeth down the road. It is important to see a dental professional right away if you are concerned about your teeth, gums, or having any mouth pain.

Finally, keeping your mouth healthy is not only good for your whole body, it is good for your wallet. A permanent, adult tooth that gets a cavity (which is an infection of the tooth) is now a weakened tooth. If the mouth continues to be neglected, that cavity can come back under a filling, get bigger, need a crown, a root canal, or even be lost and need to be replaced with a bridge or implant. It is estimated that one tooth can cost well over $6,000 to repair over a person’s lifetime.

Taking care of your teeth truly can pay off!

This blog and posts are not intended to diagnose or treat and should not be taken as medical or dental advice. If something is bothering you, say something. Your medical and dental professionals can help.

It's Children's Dental Health Month - Baby teeth matter!

It’s National Children’s Dental Health Month! Here are some facts about children’s teeth and tips for childhood tooth care:

 Baby teeth are important: Just because children lose their baby teeth, it does not mean “decay is okay.” Children need to have healthy, strong baby teeth to eat, speak, and smile.

Babies are born with their baby teeth already formed under the gums. This means that baby tooth care needs to start in infancy, before the teeth appear in the mouth! A baby’s gums should be gently wiped with a soft, damp cloth after drinking a bottle or eating. This gets baby used to his or her mouth being cleaned. As soon as the first little tooth appears, it can be brushed with a soft toothbrush using a tiny smear of fluoride toothpaste.

Gum pain gels are not necessary and

can cause a rare but life-threatening condition called methemoglobinemia. It is better to let baby chew on a cold cloth or spoon if “teething.” This should relieve baby’s discomfort.

Always use a separate spoon to test baby’s food. Caregivers and parents spread their own mouth’s germs this way. This is especially important if a caregiver has cavities or gum problems.

Never put baby to bed with a bottle with formula, milk or juice. Don’t let a toddler walk around with a sippy cup with formula, milk or juice. These drinks are for meals. The sugar in them can destroy baby teeth pretty quickly. Children should only drink water between meals.

Lift the lip to check baby’s teeth at least once a month. White spots or lines near the gums may be the start of cavities. Baby teeth should be smooth and all one color. White, brown or black spots indicates cavities. If the teeth are being wiped or brushed daily, this should not happen.

Children start to lose their front teeth at about 6-7 years of age, so those front permanent teeth coming in are obvious. Not so obvious are the first permanent molars that erupt in the back of the mouth around the same age. If daily brushing and flossing aren’t already being done, that can hurt those teeth!

Flossing, too? Yes. While baby teeth usually have space between them that the tooth brush can reach, sometimes they don’t.

As soon as “teeth touch” they should be flossed to remove plaque germs that grow in between the teeth.

Baby teeth fall out over time and kids still have some of them until they are 12-13 years old. Baby teeth hold the space for the permanent teeth coming in.

Cavities are the NUMBER ONE chronic disease in children, more common than asthma. A cavity is a bacterial infection in a tooth!

Dental pain affects a child’s ability to learn and thrive. Dental emergencies cost parents and kids thousands of lost school and work hours. (Emergency room visits for dental issues cost Americans over $1.5 billion dollars in 2012!)

The cost of an amalgam (metal) filling can be well over $100 dollars - depending on how much of the tooth surface is affected, it can be much more. Composite (white) fillings cost even more. If a tooth needs to be “capped” it can run into thousands of dollars! Compare that to the cost of a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss.

Dental decay is preventable! Unless there is an underlying medical condition, cavities are caused by not brushing and flossing and eating or drinking sugar too often. A well-balanced diet helps the mouth and the body to stay healthy!

Preventing childhood cavities is so important and easy to do but young children need a hand. Pediatricians and dentists recommend the first dental visit by age one and that children up until age nine should have help and supervision while brushing.

Brush Morning & Night chart - ym 2017

This information is not intended to treat or diagnose any condition. If you think you or a loved one needs medical or dental treatment, please see a doctor or dentist right away!

Sources: ADA.org, APA.org, ncohf.org

Over 2 Million Kids Now Using E-cigarettes: Up in Vape, Part II

Last July, I posted about vaping and e-cigarettes.  Of special concern to me that day was the activity I had seen around a boardwalk smoke shop and the number of young people using e-cigarette and vaping products.  In part, I wrote the following:

The attraction of teens and young people to smoking is nothing new…however… there is still so much unknown about the effect of e-cigarettes and vaping on health…. Opportunities to “smoke” continue to grow, regardless of our lack of understanding of the long term consequences…despite claims that e-cigs are safer than regular cigarettes and can help people quit there is little research yet to support this….In the past year there has been a 21% increase in high school students who (use e-cigarettes.)

Earlier this week the American Medical Association released new recommendations for the regulation of e-cigarette products as well as a call for nationwide minimum age purchase requirements. This new policy is based on updated data from the Centers for Disease Control that found a more than 200% increase in the use of electronic cigarettes among high school and middle school students.  That number translates into a total of almost 2.5 million teens and children who use e-cigarettes, up from 780,000 in one year. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently considering a variety of regulations on e-cigarettes similar to cigarettes and tobacco products as well inviting public commentary on the subject.  The European Union has already voted to strictly regulate e-cigarettes starting in 2016, especially where children are concerned. A stumbling block for health policy, however, is that research is scant and still ongoing. While the dangers of cigarettes and tobacco products are well established, the true long-term health risks of electronic delivery systems remain to be seen.  A 2014 Japanese study found very high levels of toxic substances in e-cigarettes, however, other studies, such as one that measured metal exposure from e-cigarettes, found no significant difference versus regular cigarettes.  Still, these studies demonstrate that there is an as yet unquantifiable risk for those who are non-tobacco users using electronic products, none of which are regulated for how they are made or what they contain.

The call for more research and regulation by national as well as international medical, dental, and government agencies alarmed at the growing number of both children and adults using e-cigarettes is a portend of the future.  Their apprehension, based on collective professional, scientific, and health knowledge, as well as a concern for public safety, should not be ignored.   

To read the new ADA press release visit:

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news/news/2015/2015-06-09-ama-policy-protect-youth.page

For information on current FDA activity regarding e-cigarettes visit:

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm172906.htm

This information is not intended to treat or diagnose any dental or medical condition or illness.  Please visit your medical or dental health professional if you need medical or dental treatment.

Sources: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news/news/2015/2015-06-09-ama-policy-protect-youth.page; www.cdc.gov, www,ada,org, www.fda.gov; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/business/european-union-approves-tough-rules; Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2014 Oct 28;11(11):11192-200. doi: 10.3390/ijerph111111192. Carbonyl compounds generated from electronic cigarettes. Bekki K^, Uchiyama S,  Ohta K^, Inaba Y^, Nakagome H^, Kunugita N.  Farsalinos, K.E.; Voudris, V.; Poulas, K.; Are Metals Emitted from Electronic Cigarettes a Reason for Health Concern? A Risk-Assessment Analysis of Currently Available Literature. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2015, 12, 5215-5232.

Pick a loser

As a follow up to my last post regarding e-cigarettes I'd like to share another issue about tobacco.  I was catching up on episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and watched an excellent piece on tobacco farming and child labor laws.  This shocking situation has also been reported on by the BBC, NPR, various local news stations and is being monitored by Human Rights Watch.  Apparently children as young as 12 can legally work on farms.  There is NO minimum age on small farms.  Children are working ridiculously long hours in unsafe conditions and without personal protective equipment.  They are being sickened and poisoned by contact with the tobacco leaves and pesticides.  Yet under pressure from big agriculture in 2012, the Labor Department withdrew a proposal to more strictly regulate the age and conditions of child farm laborers.  The tobacco companies response to child laborers?  Well, they are certainly "concerned."  (Yep, that's pretty much it.)  It is sickening to know that children are working under terrible conditions, using dangerous equipment and being exposed to harmful chemicals.  It is even more disgusting that this occurs in an industry that grows a toxic product that destroys people's health and causes cancer while making billions of dollars in profit in the process. And, of course, the US government gets it share through taxes.  So what if a few kids get harmed?  After all, they get the benefit of helping their families make money and learning the value of hard work.  That's the farmers' perspective.  Well, whatever helps you sleep at night.  But I think that in an industry that makes this much money in a country where we claim we are so concerned about human rights, more can be done to protect these kids.  What do you think?

For a great summary of the HRW report and excellent video, (the boys featured are remarkable,) view the following BBC report:  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27350412

No Numbing Gel for Babies

Teething is a normal part of development.  Baby teeth start to erupt between 5-7 months of age and continue to come in until the child is about three years old.  Babies may seem fussy, cry, and chew on their hands.  A cold cloth or teething ring for baby to chew on or massaging the gums with a clean finger are the best ways to treat discomfort.  (Fever during teething is coincidental and use of products with acetaminophen should be used according to directions to avoid overdose in an infant.)  While parents may be distressed that their child is in pain, numbing gels are never recommended to treat teething pain.  Over the counter products can do more harm than good and can cause a rare but potentially fatal condition called methemoglobinemia in which the oxygen level of the blood drops.  Parents should also never use left over adult prescriptions to treat teething pain in babies. 

For more information about the products in question and to read the FDA's warning, please go to:
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm385817.htm 

Now a word about the use of numbing gels for adults.  Pain in the mouth that is so severe you find yourself applying numbing gel is not normal.  Cavities or infections in the mouth do not get better, they only get worse.  At best numbing gel will only temporarily alleviate pain and then you may find yourself in a more painful or potentially dangerous situation.  If your teeth or a tooth hurts, see a dentist! 

This information is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition.  Please visit your medical or dental professional for treatment.