Here’s part two of our “Tooth Tips” from 89.9 WAY-FM.
Transcript below:
This is Dr. Richard Baxter from Shelby Pediatric Dentistry with a few tips about oral health for children. First, it’s best to bring your child to the dentist for the first visit by their first birthday. Seeing a child by age 1 can prevent cavities before they occur at age 2 or 3. Another tip is to not allow your child to take a bottle in the bed with them because “baby bottle tooth decay” can be caused by the natural sugars in the milk. Also, brush your child’s teeth after breakfast, and right before bedtime. When brushing, lift your child’s lip and brush along the gum line. A new recommendation is to use fluoride toothpaste as soon as the first tooth comes in. Use a small smear of fluoride toothpaste for children under age 2 and for those over age 2, use a pea size amount. More oral health tips are on our website at shelbypediatricdentistry.com. And our phone number is 419-7444.
Tooth tips are made possible by Shelby Pediatric Dentistry, a business impact partner of listener supported WAY FM.
Please let us know if you have any questions about this post or any others by calling us at 205-419-7444.
We are doing some “Tooth Tips” for 89.9 WAY-FM (the best Christian radio station in Birmingham) and we wanted to share them with you. We will be releasing the three one-minute spots over the next couple of weeks. This radio station plays the best Christian music, with the least commercials. Dr. Baxter also had a chance to meet all of the DJs on his trip to Ghana in January (purely by coincidence) when they were on the same flights to Amsterdam and Accra, Ghana for a trip with Compassion International.
We hope you enjoy the first tip on sugar. Click below to play.
Here’s the transcript:
This is Dr. Richard Baxter from Shelby Pediatric Dentistry with a few tips about children’s oral health. Be careful with the amount of sugar in your child’s diet. Sugar can sneak in through obvious ways like candy and sugary drinks. But be careful with fruit juice because most fruit juices, even no sugar added apple juice contain more sugar than most soft drinks. In addition, frequency is more important than the amount of sugar consumed. For example if your child eats fruit snacks or drinks juice in small amounts throughout the day, that is worse for their teeth than having dessert with dinner or having juice with lunch. We recommend drinking water throughout the day, and white milk with meals. This will keep the time that the teeth are touching sugar to a minimum. We hope these tips can help you and your child stay cavity free! More oral health tips are on our website at ShelbyPediatricDentistry.com. And our office number is 419-7444.
Tooth Tips are made possible by Shelby Pediatric Dentistry, a business impact partner with WAY-FM.
Please let us know if you have any questions about sugar in your child’s diet. Our number is 205-419-7444.
This is going to sound crazy, but eating Halloween candy on Halloween is not dangerous for your teeth. The bigger concern is when the candy is eaten frequently throughout the year and becomes a habit. For example, it’s much better for your child’s teeth to allow them to eat whatever candy they want on Halloween night, and then get rid of the rest. For example, if they receive 100 pieces of candy, and you give them one piece a day, it may create a habit of wanting candy every day – which is much more likely to cause cavities. So the best thing for parents to do with Halloween candy is to let their child enjoy it on Halloween night, and get rid of the rest however you choose to do so.
Some offices offer a “Candy Buy-back” program. We do not have a candy buyback program at our office at this time. We know it can be helpful in some ways, but the main reason we don’t do it is because we don’t want to shift the problems associated with candy from your kids to someone else. Unfortunately, the homeless commonly have many health problems and tooth decay already. According to one of our employees whose husband served several tours in Iraq, the troops have limited access to dental care and the candy is often melted by the time it gets to them. She suggested sending troops sunflower seeds, beef jerky, or energy bars instead. If we could find something useful to do with the candy, we may have one in the future, but for now, the best thing I can think to do with it is to have a massive bonfire! (Just kidding… well, sort of).
The best dental procedures to protect a child’s teeth from candy are dental sealants. These protective coatings “seal” the grooves so the candy does not get stuck deep in the molar where it is difficult to clean. However, sticky candy like Jolly Ranchers, Tootsie Rolls, caramels, and taffy can actually pull the sealants off, or pull off crowns or other dental work, so be careful!
Be safe when Trick or Treating, by all means enjoy the holiday, but don’t keep the candy around a long time!
If you have any other questions about this post, or about dental health in general, please leave a comment or call our office at 205-419-7444.
Brushing your child’s teeth changes as they get older. It’s important to start brushing your child’s teeth at 6 months, or as soon as the first tooth comes in. Make sure to use just a smear of fluoride toothpaste for children age 6mo to 2 years, and a pea size amount for children age 2yrs and older. The easiest way to brush a toddler’s teeth who doesn’t want to cooperate is to lay them on the ground and place their head between your legs and their arms stretched out under your legs (see photo). This allows you to use one hand to lift the lips and the other to brush the teeth without the child interfering with the brushing process. Typically, uncooperative children will only require this position for a week or two, then will realize that brushing will happen regardless of their desire to brush or not. Hopefully, they will allow you to brush their teeth while they are sitting up normally. If you have two people, you can use the “knee-to-knee” position like we use in the office. Have the two caregivers face each other with one holding the child. Parent #1 will wrap the child’s legs around their waist and lean them back into the other parent’s lap. Parent #2 will then brush the teeth while parent #1 holds the child’s hands gently.
Brushing Position
Once your children get used to brushing daily, then you stand behind the child for an easier angle and brush their teeth in the bathroom. You can also try brushing their teeth while watching TV if they watch a show at night, or using some other distraction like an engaging toy. Once the child is age 2-9, you can allow them to try to brush their teeth first, and then the parent should brush afterward. Pay special attention to the gumline and the back teeth. Often, you will have to lift the child’s upper lip or lower the bottom lip to be able to brush effectively.
Once the child is around age 10 (some may be ready for independent brushing a little sooner or a little later) then allow the child to brush on their own, but it’s still important to at least check their teeth every few days to make sure they are brushing effectively. If the teeth look orange, or look dull (not shiny) or are “fuzzy”, then there is too much plaque on the teeth. You may need to help your child hit the problem areas and go back to checking the teeth daily.
Hopefully this information will help you and your child to brush well at all ages. If you have any questions, please ask one of our hygienists during your visit, ask Dr. Baxter, or call the office at 205-419-7444.
In many dental offices, you will find an aquarium in the reception area. In fact, much of the movie Finding Nemo revolves around a fish tank in a dental office. When we looked at how much it would cost to install a nice, average-sized saltwater tank in our office, it came to around $3,000. Not to mention all of the ongoing maintenance and time spent worrying about cleaning and stocking it.
As an office, we have a book club on Fridays, and right now we are reading the book Radical by David Platt (who was our pastor at The Church at Brook Hills until he became the president of the International Mission Board last year). In it, he talks about the 26,000 children that die every day from starvation or preventable diseases, like diarrhea. Many people around the world walk for an hour (or more!) each way, every day, in order to gather water from a contaminated water hole. Almost 800 million people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water. Considering how blessed we are to live in America, and having heard the words of Jesus who says to his disciples to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give water to the thirsty, I realized that we could use the money for a fish tank in a better way. So we have decided to partner with Neverthirst, a Birmingham-based organization that works around the world to bring clean water to communities by building water wells and partnering with local churches. Once the well is drilled and there is clean water to drink, the pastors of the churches share with others in the community about the Living Water that Jesus brings.
We want to invite you to consider partnering with us and with Neverthirst. We will be donating $3,000 to build a well with Neverthirst in India. We have set up a website with NeverThirst where you can donate toward providing clean water to a community, and in addition to the first $3,000, we will also match every dollar you donate. No amount is too small! Maybe together we can build two or three wells! Let’s be a part of eliminating dirty water for children and their parents around the world who are dying every day. We want to be wise stewards of the resources that we have been entrusted with, and look for opportunities to help those locally and globally.
