National Children's Dental Health Month: Baby teeth matter!

 

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

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

Babies are born with their baby teeth already formed under the gums. Baby tooth care should start early, 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. 

Baby teeth start to come in at about 4 - 7 months of age. As soon as the first little tooth appears, it can be brushed with a soft toothbrush and a tiny smear of toothpaste, about the size of a grain of rice.

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 can 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. Toddlers should not walk around with a sippy cup with formula, milk or juice.  These drinks are for meals. Frequent exposure to the sugar in them can destroy baby teeth quickly. Children should be encouraged to drink only 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.

By the time kids are 3 years old, they will have 20 teeth! Teeth should be brushed twice a day, using a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste on a soft child-sized tooth brush. 

Children start to lose their front teeth at about 6-7 years of age. The loss of front baby teeth and the 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, making daily brushing and flossing all the more important.

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. Kids may still have some until they are 12-13 years old. Baby teeth hold the space for the permanent teeth coming in. Tooth crowding due to early tooth loss can increase risk of decay, gum problems, and needing braces.

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 non-traumatic dental visits have risen to over $3.5 billion dollars annually.

The cost of an amalgam (silver) filling can be well over $100 dollars depending on how much of the tooth surface is affected. 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! Brushing and flossing at least twice a day keeps cavities away. Diets high in sugar and sugar sweetened beverages also lead to cavities. A well-balanced diet helps the mouth and the body stay healthy!

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

Please visit the websites listed below for more on the information found in this article and additional resources.

Resources and sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/oral-health/index.html

https://www.ada.org/resources/community-initiatives/national-childrens-dental-health-month

https://wicworks.fns.usda.gov/topic/health-observances/national-childrens-dental-health-month

https://oralhealthsupport.ucsf.edu/news/dental-care-in-crisis-tracking-the-cost-and-prevalence-emergency-department-visits-for-non-traumatic

This blog and its posts are not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or advise about any dental or medical condition. Please see your dentist or doctor for any treatment or information you need regarding your health.

Surgery? Have a dental visit first

Are you having surgery soon? 

It's time to visit the dentist! 

If you have concerns about your oral health, such as tooth pain or bleeding gums, it's important to have a dental visit prior to your surgical procedure. Dental disease may not hurt and can go undetected, so even if you don't have concerns, having a dental visit before your surgery is a good idea.  This way you can be confident your mouth is healthy while you focus on your recovery.

Post-surgery, it's important to ask your surgeon if you will require any medication prior to dental treatment. Procedures such as total joint replacement and some heart surgeries may require you to take antibiotics. 

If you take blood thinners, your dental office may ask that you obtain medical clearance from your doctor or specialist prior to dental treatment. You may need to stop or remain on your medication, or take premedication, depending on the type of dental treatment you need. 

Always tell your dentist and dental hygienist what medications you are taking. Medications can affect oral health in surprising ways. Update your dental hygienist and dentist with any planned procedures, any medical changes, medication changes, new medical conditions, or allergies, even if you don't think they will affect your mouth.

The mouth is the gateway to the body! Anything that affects your body can affect your oral health. Your dentist and dental hygienist are partners in keeping you healthy and happy.

Good luck with your surgery! 

This blog and its posts are not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or advise about any dental or medical condition. Please see your dentist or doctor for any treatment or information you need regarding your health.

The truth about toothpaste

As a dental hygienist, I get LOTS of questions about toothpaste. Companies make a lot of claims about what their toothpastes do, from whitening to enamel protection. Basically, so long as a toothpaste has some kind of fluoride in it, that's what should be used. Fluoride is necessary to remineralize and protect teeth. 

Some toothpastes have ingredients such as stannous fluoride and potassium nitrate that can help with sensitivity. Potassium nitrate has worked for me personally. Since sensitivity can be caused by various dental issues including receding gums, cavities, and dry mouth, sensitivity should be discussed with your dentist or dental hygienist. 

I work at two dental offices and the toothpaste samples given to patients vary. I rely on my colleagues and my professional network to learn about any problems or issues with toothpastes rather than claims from the companies that make them. For example, there was a toothpaste on the market that had blue beads in it. When hygienists began finding these beads embedded in people's gums, the alarm was sounded and the manufacturer corrected the problem. Stannous fluoride has had issues as well. It was found to stain the teeth and manufacturers have since added ingredients to counteract this. 

In addition to stannous fluoride, sodium fluoride and sodium monofluorophosphate can be found in toothpastes. They are all effective and essentially do the same thing: provide some fluoride directly to the teeth and into the saliva. A dentist may prescribe a toothpaste with a higher amount of fluoride if a patient needs it due to their dental condition.

Finally, teeth must be brushed regularly regardless of the type of fluoride in the toothpaste. It seems simple, but people rarely brush for long enough, or brush only once a day. Brushing and flossing physically removes plaque germs from the teeth and gums. While toothpaste is important, this is the most important aspect of caring for the teeth. Brushing the teeth 2 to 3 times a day for 2 minutes (set a timer) will clean teeth and create a healthy mouth.

These blog posts are not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or advise about any dental or medical condition. Please see your dentist or doctor for any treatment you need. 

Happy World Oral Health Day 2022!

Taking care of your teeth has huge payoffs for overall health and takes only a couple of minutes a day!

 

Hamsters, Cocoa Krispies and COVID

I haven't posted in a while, but this study on how and why COVID causes loss of smell, called anosmia, caught my eye. Apparently, hamsters are really fond of Cocoa Krispies. Researchers took advantage of this to see how long it would take hamsters infected with COVID to find the treats in their bedding. Turns out, hamsters who weren't sick and hamsters with the flu could find them within seconds, but hamsters with COVID didn't even bother to look. Couldn't smell them. COVID clogs their little sniffer systems with gunk due to inflammation, causing confusion in the nose nerves. The nerves aren't damaged but temporarily too busy to pick up scents. The same process is thought to happen in humans. Cocoa Krispies aren't my thing, but it was a bummer to not be able to smell my morning coffee when I had COVID. If you want to read a more scientific explanation of all this, here is the link to the article in Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-smell-loss-and-long-covid-linked-to-inflammation1/