Summer was great with its rules that were made to be broken. (You swam in the pool? Sure, you can skip your bath tonight.) But I know I’m not the only mom who’s thrilled to be embracing a predictable family routine again. Of course, now there’s late-night ball practice, rushed mornings with lost backpacks, and the inevitable, “Oops, I forgot, this report is due tomorrow.”
The doctors at The Smiley Tooth Pediatric Dental Specialists get it. They’re parents, too. But they also know how important routine is to your child’s dental hygiene. “I understand how crazy family life can get,” said Dr. Jennifer Chou. “But healthy habits are vital to your child’s teeth and gums.” Things like healthy snacking, drinking water instead of sodas, eating fruits and vegetables instead of chips and candy, and never disregarding brushing and flossing are habits that will positively impact your child’s oral health for their lifetime.
The Smiley Tooth docs know how tempting the ballpark concession stand can be. Far better to prepare a healthy snack to take along and reserve the snack bar for occasional treats. And when the weekend finally does come, you can loosen up bedtime and screentime, but not nightly brushing and flossing. “If your child is under 10, you really need to do the brushing and flossing for them,” Dr. Chou said. “Once they’re doing it on their own, you still want to monitor and make sure they’re brushing all their teeth.”
As pediatric dentists, The Smiley Tooth docs spend time educating parents about things like breaking babies of habits such as taking a bottle to bed which can lead to decay. “One of the things we like best is partnering with parents to help them be their child’s best oral-health advocate,” Dr. Chou said.
Early decay doesn’t always look like decay. “Plaque gathers at the gumline, first showing up as white spots and then eventually a hole in the tooth,” Dr. Chou said. “When the child is very young and not ready to cooperate in the dentist’s chair, we can often apply Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) to ‘freeze’ the cavity, so it doesn’t get any larger with proper home care. That can buy us six months to a year until they’re old enough to be more cooperative. We also offer oral conscious sedation, IV sedation, or nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to help them through the procedure.”
The doctors at The Smiley Tooth want to help raise a generation of kids who see caring for their teeth and visiting the dentist as a happy, normal part of their lives. For them, there’s nothing as rewarding as watching a once fearful child happily hop into the chair ready for their exam.
Visit 972Sparkle.com to find out more or schedule your child’s appointment.
