In the Know For You To Know

Here you are. You have your child’s dental appointment all set. You’ve talked about this. Even read books and watched videos. They’ve practiced how big they’re going to open for the dentist to see all their teeth. This time it’s going to be different. Everything is going great.

Somewhere along the drive to the dental office your child says “I don’t want to go. I’m scared.” They keep repeating this louder and louder. Then they start to cry.

You know their melt down has started. Maybe this time it will get better before you get there. But what if it doesn’t and gets worse?

What do you do? How do you calm and reassure your child there’s nothing to be scared of at the dentist’s office? Will they believe this?

A lot of children are afraid of the dentist. So today we’re discussing children’s dental anxiety and how you can make your child’s pediatric dental appointment a positive experience.

How Common Is Dental Anxiety In Children? What Are The Numbers?

It’s relatively common for children to have dental anxiety. Overall, the prevalence of dental anxiety in ~

• Preschoolers is 36.5%,
• School age children is 25.8%,
• Adolescents is 13.3%

6 Reasons Why A Child Has Dental Anxiety

• Fear of Injections and Local Anesthesia – Your child might be afraid of needles, getting a “shot” or a local anesthetic (aka numbing). Pediatric dentists have the equipment and know the techniques for administering injections as painlessly as possible.
• Fear of Pain – Children might be afraid that dental treatment will be painful. This fear can come from hearing other children or adults talk about scary moments during their dental procedures. Your child might also be afraid of experiencing pain after a previous bad experience. Pediatric dentists are used to treating children and work with the child to allow them to feel comfortable during treatment.
• Fear of Obstructed Breathing – During dental treatment children need to hold their mouth open, and sometimes for a longer time. Dental instruments and the dental team’s hands in the mouth is a lot for a child. Pediatric dentists and their team can distract your child (such as with a favorite movie) to make the procedure less scary.
• Fear of Embarrassment – Children might feel self conscious about having dental caries (aka tooth decay) or a dental deformity. For a child who has experienced insults related to the way their teeth look, this fear could become more intense.
• Fear of Losing Control – Lying down in a dental chair while the dentist uses instruments inside their mouth can trigger anxiety. Part of this fear stems from the feeling that they will be unable to let you know if something starts to bother or overwhelm them. Pediatric dentists address by having you in the room during treatment, as well as letting your child know they can communicate with a hand signal when something bothers them or becomes overwhelming.
• Unexplained Fears – Specifically pinpointing a fear can be difficult with a child. Anxiety can result from sensory challenges or a stressor that the child is unable or unwilling to talk about. Your child might be anxious because they don’t understand what is going to take place, why they need the procedure or how the procedure is going to make things better.

As A Parent, Ways You Can Alleviate Dental Anxiety And Make Your Child Feel Comfortable

As a parent you can help your child overcome these negative and fearful feelings about dental care with an empathetic attitude and positive reinforcement.

Ways To Alleviate Dental Anxiety

• Start dental care early and keep up with regular check-ups
• Bring a comfort item from home
• Role play at home
• Be present
• Stay strong
• Choose your words carefully and speak honestly
• Use positive reinforcement
• Avoid delaying dental care
• Communicate with your child’s pediatric dental team

What To Remember

Understanding and addressing dental anxiety in children is critical for their long term oral health. Anxiety, often rooted in fear, unfamiliarity, or past experiences can make their dental visits challenging.

We do this by working together. As pediatric dentists our goal is to empower you with knowledge and tools to help your children overcome their dental fears.

Fostering a collaborative approach ensures that children feel they are supported, informed, and involved in their dental health, making dental visits a positive experience. All of which helps to ensure a life time of healthy smiles.

Is your child afraid to go to the dentist? Do you know a child who had meltdown before, during or after their dental appointment? What tips do you have that has worked for you? Tell Us, We’d really like to know! Send us an email to kidstoothhotline@proton.me Like Us on Facebook

More tips? We have lots. We’re here just for kids!

In the Know for You to Know

Your child had their dental appointment for their filling (or tooth extraction) and everything went great. Yea! Everyone is cheering and so happy!

The pediatric dentist talks with you about their after care. You take special note to be especially careful and watch them since the novocaine (aka local anesthetic, numbing) hasn’t worn off yet.

Your child says that their mouth feels funny on that one side. They tell you that they don’t like it. It feels funny and big. They want you to make it “wake up now.” Then they try on their own to pinch and hit their lip and cheek saying “wake up.” You ask them to stop and put their hands in yours. Both of you explain that their mouth will “wake up” in a little while. For now it’s important to let it be and wake up on its own.

Children will be children and this is difficult for them. They want their mouth to feel “normal and regular.”

How many of us have been here? Whether it’s after your child’s or your dental treatment, many of us have experienced this feeling.

As the patient myself, as the mom, and as the pediatric dentist I have been here.

Today we’ll be talking about what happens when despite all of our best efforts your child experiences a lip bite.

What Causes A Lip Bite?

When a child needs a filling (or tooth extraction) local anesthesia is often used to “numb” the area. Depending on the treatment needed and the type of local anesthetic, it can last from 2-4 hours.

This makes it difficult for a child to feel their lips, cheek, and tongue. As a result, they may accidentally bite, chew or suck on these areas without realizing it.

What Does A Lip Bite Look Like?

In the event your child accidentally bites their lip, cheek or tongue, there are a few signs you need to look for ~

• Swelling of the lip, cheek, and/or tongue,
• A yellowish-white scab develops which resembles an ulcer or an infection,
• Bloody crusting around the scab,
• Tooth imprints in the area surrounding the scab.
• Is the bite limited to the lip itself or does it extend past the border of the lip onto the skin?

How Long Does A Tooth Bite Take To Get Better?

If your child does bite, chew or suck on their lip, cheek or tongue, a yellowish-white scab forms as the wound heals. This may take up to 14 days to go away.

If the bite is larger or includes the skin, it takes longer to heal and may cause scaring.

What About Eating After A Lip Bite?

Eating is important. Stay with things like ~

• Soft easy foods like mashed potatoes, pasta, mac and cheese, oatmeal,
• Cool foods like yogurt, ice cream, and popsicles,
• Drink from a cup, and don’t use straws which irritates the bite,
• Avoid citrus fruits, tomatoes, salty and spicy foods which are also irritating.

How Do You Take Care Of A Lip Bite?

Keeping your child’s mouth and the bite area clean is really important. This is because clean areas heal faster.

It’s important to ~

• Clean the area well with a soft wet wash cloth 3 times a day as well as after eating and after tooth brushing,
• Brush and floss teeth as normal,
• Be gentle around the injured area.

A Pediatric Dentist’s Lip Bite Story

A dad brought his 4 year old child to my office for a filling on a bottom back tooth (aka molar). This child did great. They even got an extra prize for being so awesome.

As I was sitting this child up in the chair I could see they felt the one side of their mouth was “feeling funny.”

I reviewed the after care instructions with Dad, and explained to the child (in age appropriate words) about the “funny feeling.”

Everything went well. I checked in on the family that evening and Mom was so happy and pleased. I reviewed instructions for overnight (as I always do).

The next morning Mom brought her child to the office. She was (understandably) livid. When this child woke up their lip and cheek was visibly swollen, there was some blood crusting and had a white-ish yellow covering.

After making sure there wasn’t any infection, this turned out to be a lip bite.

I cleaned the area and instructed mom on how to take care of the bite area. We talked about diet and oral hygiene. I sensed mom’s concern and encouraged mom to speak with her pediatrician.

I also called the pediatrician (which is my usual when there are concerns). The pediatrician encouraged mom to follow my recommendations and would also follow up.

We made appointments and I saw this child everyday in the office to monitor their healing. At the 5 day mark the swelling was resolved and by day 7 the bite was healed. When I saw them on day 10, you wouldn’t have known there was a lip bite.

Mom took a picture on day 10 and compared it with a picture taken prior to the filling. She said that no one could tell any difference.

Are you wondering? Yes, this family still brings their children to my office along with cousins and a few neighbors.

What To Remember

If your child received local anesthesia for their dental treatment their lips, cheek, and tongue will be “numb” for a few hours after their appointment.

Since they can’t feel these areas, sometimes children may accidentally bite them. This causes them to swell.

It’s very important to watch your child closely after their dental appointment. You’ll need to remind them not to suck, bite or chew on their lip, cheek or tongue.

Cold drinks, frozen treats (like popsicles), and cool compresses can help them feel comfortable.

If your child has any swelling or something doesn’t look right to you contact your dentist’s office immediately so they can be evaluated.

Has your child had local anesthetic for a filling or tooth extraction? How did they do afterwards? Did your child bite their lip or cheek or tongue? What did you do? Do you know a child who bit their lip? How did it go? Tell Us, We’d really like to know! Send us an email at kidstoothhotline@proton.me Like Us on Facebook

More tips? We have lots. We’re here just for kids!

In the Know for You to Know

As a parent we’ve all been there. Whether we’re out and about or at the grocery store with our children, when they get thirsty they want something sweet. That sugary drink is soda.

It may seem to be okay to occasionally give in and let them have that soda. However, there are things for you to know and consider before saying yes to a soda.

What Is In Soda?

Soda is made from sugar and acids. Over time these 2 things lead to tooth decay (aka cavities).

This is why:

1. High sugar content – feeds the bad bacteria in the mouth causing them to over grow which leads to cavities.
2. Acids – the acids in soda make them fizzy, but also breaks down the tooth enamel. This leads to sensitivity and cavities.

Acids In Soda

Citric acid and phosphoric acid are 2 acids commonly found in soda, and they directly attack tooth enamel. Which leads to enamel break down and ultimately tooth decay.

How Soda Affects Teeth

Soda affects teeth in 1 significant way that leads to long term troubles.

Tooth Enamel Erosion

Tooth enamel is the hard outer layer of teeth that is there to protect teeth. Soda weakens and breaks down this protective layer causing:

1. increased risk of generalized tooth damage,
2. sensitivity to hot, cold and sweet foods and beverages,
3. increased plaque buildup,
4. developing generalized cavities.

Tooth Enamel Doesn’t Grow Back

What’s important to know is that tooth enamel doesn’t regenerate or grow back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

The issue is that this does not only affect 1 tooth. The sugar and acids melt away the tooth’s enamel by dissolving it until it isn’t there any more.

Remember the science experiment when you put a tooth in a plastic cup and poured soda over it? What you saw on day 1 was very different from what the tooth looked like at the end of the experiment.

What did you see at the end? A gnarly brown tooth with holes in it.

What The Science Says

Dental experts, including those at the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry have found that:

• Soda begins to wear down tooth enamel within 20 minutes of that first sip,
• Children who routinely drink soda have a higher rate of cavities.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Heart Association (AHA) agree. Together they put out a joint statement endorsing policies to reduce children’s consumption of sugar.

Cavities and tooth pain are the tip of the iceberg. The effects of drinking soda on a regular basis also set children up for other health problems as they get older.

Regular Or Diet Soda

Regular or diet soda doesn’t matter. They both do the same harm when it comes to teeth.

What To Remember

Knowing the consequences of why soda is bad for your children’s teeth helps you to make informed choices for your entire family.

Realistically your child is going to have a soda at a birthday party or holiday get together. After wards, it’s important to make sure you’re keeping up with their flossing and brushing.

Remember, preventing dental problems is easier than treating them.

Does your child have a favorite soda? How much sugar do you think there is in soda? Do you think soda is good to drink? How much soda do you think is okay for your child to drink? Do you think soda is bad for your children’s teeth? Tell Us, We’d really like to know! Send us an email at kidstoothhotline@proton.me Like Us on Facebook

More tips? We have lots. We’re here just for kids!

In the Know for You To Know

Fall is here and practically everyone is planing a trip to go apple picking.

There are so many wonderful things about apples, and just about everyone loves them.

What could be better than watching your smiling child bite into a fresh picked juicy apple and see the juice run down their cheeks?

Did you know that apples are a very important fruit? Yes they are, and for a couple of reasons. Not only are they packed with vitamins for a healthy diet, apples can also help clean teeth.

Apples help to clean teeth? How is this possible?

Keep reading for some FYI’s on how apples help keep teeth and gums healthy.

Eating An Apple Is Almost Like Using A Toothbrush

Eating an apple can help remove plaque from teeth and gums.

How Is This Possible?

There are 3 ways apples help keep teeth clean,

1. Apples contain a specific acid called malic acid which can break down plaque that accumulates on the teeth and gums.
2. Biting into and chewing an apple stimulates more saliva to be produced and flow into the mouth. More saliva helps wash away food particles and bacteria as well as diluting and washing away sugars that are attached to the teeth.
3. Apples are 85% water which also helps dilute sugars in the mouth.

4 Reasons Apples Make Great Snacks

1. Apples make great snacks with their natural sweetness and high fiber content.
2. An apple’s natural sweetness decreases cravings for other higher sugar content snacks.
3. The fiber keeps children full longer so they snack less.
4. By being high in water apples are naturally juicy so children are less likely to ask for sugary beverages.

10 Apple Fun Facts

• Over 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the U.S.
• The most popular apples in the US are Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith.
• A bushel of apples weighs almost 42 pounds.
• Halloween Tip, Bobbing for apples – apples float so easily since they are 25% air.
• Apple trees take between 4-5 years to produce their first apples.
• Apples contain 0 grams of fat or sodium and have no cholesterol.
• The average size of an apple is 4 grams.
• Apple trees can live to be about 100 years old.
• On average 1 person eats 65 apples a year.
• Johnny Appleseed was a real person. Can you guess his real name? Yes, you got it! His name was John Chapman.

Apple picking season has started, does your family have a favorite apple? What’s your super special apple pie recipe? How many apples do you think your family eats in a week? Any apple picking plans? Do you like to get your apples at the farmer’s market or supermarket? Tell Us, We’d really like to know! Send us an email at kidstoothhotline@proton.me and Like Us on Facebook

More tips? We have lots. We’re here just for kids!