Corporate Info
 

Children Health Tip What is Fluoride? Fluoride helps the enamel on your teeth stay strong and helps to slow down decay. For more info: »P&G Dental Pictures, charts and Games! Keep track of your brushing.  Click on the picture above, then press the print button on your internet browser. Flossing chart for your children. Click on the picture above, then press the print button on your internet browser. Food group chart for children. Click on the picture above, then press the print button on your internet browser. Also Coming Soon! Plaque Monster Game, we are working with a software developer/programmer to develop a simple game for our child-patients and those young at heart. Be on the look-out for the launch!

Did you know?

Baby Tooth Decay
Improper bottle-feeding for your child can become harmful.  Certain liquids in nursing bottles can cause Baby Tooth Decay, also known as Nursing Bottle Mouth.  Children with Baby Bottle Tooth Decay have extensive decay caused by nursing from bottles filled with sugary liquids.  The decay can occur rapidly, involve many teeth and cause severe pain.  The child's upper front teeth are most likely to be damaged, although others may be affected as well.

As a baby sucks on a bottle during the day, saliva helps to wash away sugars and acid in the mouth that can cause tooth decay.  During sleep, however, saliva flow is reduced.  When a baby is put to sleep with a bottle, the liquid may not be swallowed quickly.  Instead, it drips into the baby's mouth continuously.  As a result, the sugary liquid collects around the child's teeth for longer periods of time and cause rapid, severe demineralization or decay.  Often, a baby is given a bottle of milk, formula, fruit juice, or other sweetened liquids such as soft drinks, as a pacifier during the day.  Or, the baby may be given a bottle with any of these liquids before falling asleep for a nap or at bedtime in the evening.  These harmful habits can lead to a pattern of serious, early tooth decay. The longer this practice is continued, the more damage can de done.

Prevention: Parents may not realize that their children's teeth are highly susceptible to decay as soon as they appear in the mouth.  By the time the decay is noticed, it may be too late to save the child's teeth.  Therefore, to protect your child's teeth from the time they first appear, it is important for you or the person caring for your baby to know about proper bottle-feeding practices.
 

• If your baby requires a bottle at bedtime for comfort, use only pain water.  Do not fill bottle with milk, formula, fruit juice, or other sweetened liquids such as soft drinks.  All of these liquids contain various forms of sugars.

• If you use a pacifier to comfort your child, use a clean pacifier-one which is recommended by your baby's doctor.  Never dip the pacifier in any sweet substance. 

• Because fluoride is the most effective agent available to prevent tooth decay, be sure your child receives the proper amount.  If your drinking water is fluoridated, make it a habit to encourage your child to drink it.  If your child's drinking water is not fluoridated, ask your family dentist or doctor about prescribing daily fluoride supplements in the form of drops or tablets.

• After each feeding, gently clean your baby's teeth and gums with a damp washcloth or gauze pad.  When most of the 20 baby teeth have appeared usually age 2-continue to gently clean your child's teeth with a toothbrush at least once a day-preferably just before bedtime.

• Have your baby's teeth examined by a dentist by age 2 to 3-as soon as all your child's baby teeth have appeared.  Anytime, however, you notice that your child has dental problems, take the child to the dentist immediately.

• Close to your child's first birthday, begin to wean your child from the bottle and, instead, teach your child to drink only from a cup.

or

Science Transfer and Research
Analysis Branch
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Room 522, Westwood Building
5333 Westbard Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20892

BACK 

These days, you might have heard your dentist talk about sealants.  What are sealants? A sealant is a thin, plastic coating painted on the chewing surface of a back tooth.  Sealant is usually put on in a dentist's office. It is a simple and painless procedure that can protect the tooth from decay.  Decay is caused by germs in the mouth that change sugar in the food we eat to acid.  The acid can eat a cavity in the tooth.  The chewing surfaces of the back teeth are rough and uneven allowing pits and grooves to form.  Food and germs lodged in these hard-to-reach by toothbrush bristles and thus can not be easily removed by brushing.  Ask your dentist about sealants.

BACK

A few hints: 

• handle your appliances with care, they are not indestructible you know! If you lose or break an appliance, be sure to call your dentist, pediatric dentist or orthodontist.
• Once in a while, a tie wire can get loose and poke the inside of your mouth.  Gently tuck the wire back into place under the archwire with a blunt item e.g., popsicle stick. Otherwise cover it with a piece of wax
• Avoid eating hard foods e.g., popcorn, ice, corn chips.  If you eat raw fruits and vegetables such as apple, cut them into small pieces (bite size).
• Sticky foods are out too e.g., taffy, bubble gum and caramel chews.
• Cut down on sugary foods and carbonated beverages otherwise brush your teeth after intake of such foods
• Do not put foreign objects into your mouth such as pencils and fingernails, they don't belong there and can break your appliances
• Keep your mouth clean because loose wires, brackets, elastics and bands can trap food
• Use a soft-bristle brush with fluoride toothpaste and start brushing as your clinician prescribed to you.

BACK

• Protect your child's teeth with fluoride
• Check and clean your child's teeth
• Feed your child healthy food
• Prevent baby bottle tooth decay 
• Take your child to the dentist

• Choose sugary foods less often
• Avoid sweets between meals
• Eat a variety of low- or non-fat snack foods
• Brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste after snacks and meals
• Floss regularly particularly after meals and/or snacks
• Visit your dentist regularly!

HOME