At Virginia Center for Advanced Dentistry, children of all ages are welcome to our practice. Dr. Simon, your children’s dentist in Midlothian, loves teaching kids about good oral health. The earlier they learn good oral hygiene habits, the better their health for the future. 

Oral hygiene is critical to your child’s overall health. All children need healthy teeth to speak, eat, and smile comfortably. A children’s dentist recommends starting good oral hygiene habits as early as possible in childhood. 

But how do you teach children the importance of caring for their teeth? Below are six tips we’ve compiled to get you off to a good start.

1. Supervise Them

The younger the child is, the more supervision they will need. As a parent, you need to ensure they’re not only brushing their teeth twice a day, but doing so correctly. Watch them, give them pointers along the way, and step in when needed to clean up spots they may have missed.

2. Morning and Bedtime Routines

Making good oral hygiene part of a morning or bedtime routine will feel very natural. Have your children brush their teeth at the same time in their routine. For example, it can be the last thing they do before jumping into bed and before heading out the door in the morning. Regardless of how busy you are, your children should never skip this part of the routine!

3. Help Your Child Floss

Flossing is equally as important as brushing. Unfortunately, it is a more challenging routine to establish due to the difficulty of maneuvering. Start by demonstrating on your own teeth. Then, help them guide the floss into position in their mouths. 

Consider using flossing picks, as they may be easier for little hands. Help your children floss the back, hard-to-reach teeth for them until they grow more comfortable doing so on their own.

4. Encourage Healthy Food Choices

Your child’s diet is one of the essential elements to their oral health. Allowing kids unlimited amounts of sweets, juices, or other junk food won’t result in healthy pearly whites. Children who eat unhealthy, high-sugar diets when they are young tend to crave these foods in adulthood. 

Instead, opt for healthy snacks, like fruit, string cheese, nuts, hard-boiled eggs, and yogurt are all tooth-friendly snacks. Sweets are great for special occasions and holidays, but always in moderation. 

5. Lead by Example

All children universally copy their parents to a fault. Your child watches you and looks to you as a role model. So, what better way to show them the importance of oral health than to look out for your own, too.  Make a point to let them observe you brush, floss, and make healthy dietary choices, and they will follow suit.

6. Six Month Dental Appointments

Everyone, regardless of age, should be visiting their dentist’s office at least once every six months. This checkup is vital to maintaining oral health and catching problems before they start. Children often are calmer and have more fun when they visit a children’s dentist. 

Dr. Simon understands that many young patients are nervous about visiting a children’s dentist. Everyone at Virginia Center for Advanced Dentistry takes extra time to ensure that our youngest patients feel comfortable and at ease. We can offer you and your child additional tooth care tips to help with at-home dental care along with many other dental services.   

SOME HEALTH ISSUES only impact adults, but gum disease is not one of them. Oral bacteria doesn’t wait for us to get older, so kids and teenagers are also at risk of developing gingivitis and more severe forms of periodontal disease.

What Causes Gum Disease?

The main cause of gum disease in young children is poor oral hygiene. If plaque is left to build up on the teeth until it hardens into tartar, the gums become more vulnerable to irritation and inflammation.

It’s a slightly different story for teenagers because the flood of hormones that comes with puberty can increase blood flow to the gums and make them more sensitive. Girls are more susceptible to this problem than boys, but more than half of teenagers have some form of gum disease.

Parents Can Watch for These Signs

Children lack the life experience to easily recognize when something is wrong, even if they’re experiencing discomfort, so they might not think to give you a detailed description of their symptoms of gum disease. This can be a real problem because gum disease can worsen over time and it could be more advanced by the time they’ve noticed. Fortunately, there are signs parents can keep an eye out for:

• Bleeding gums during brushing or flossing
• Swollen and reddened gums
• Gum recession
• Constant bad breath regardless of brushing and flossing

Preventing and Treating Gum Disease

It’s wonderful if your child doesn’t have gum disease, but the fight to maintain healthy gums is continuous. Good dental hygiene habits are essential, so be sure to set an example by brushing twice a day and flossing daily and helping them follow that example. Schedule regular dental checkups for your kids and teens, because the dentist can catch problems early when they’re easier to reverse and professional cleanings are the only way to remove built-up tartar.

Preventing a dental problem is always preferable to treating it once it appears, but it is very possible to fight back against existing gum disease with these same methods: good dental hygiene habits and regular dental appointments.

Let’s Work Together for Healthy Gums!

Childhood is an important time for a person’s oral health, because it’s the time to learn and build the habits that will keep our teeth and gums healthy for the rest of our lives. Parents and dentists can work together to give kids a great headstart on good oral health. They’ll be able to defeat gum disease and build all the tools they need for a lifetime of healthy smiles!

We can’t wait to see you and your child!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

LOSING BABY TEETH is a totally normal part of a child’s development, but what happens if an adult tooth gets knocked out? This counts as a serious dental emergency.

If a whole tooth gets knocked out in one piece, there is a limited window (not much longer than an hour) in which the tooth has a chance to be successfully replanted, so the sooner the dentist sees it, the better. To give the tooth its best shot, put it back in the socket on the way there and hold it in place with a washcloth or gauze. If that isn’t possible, store it in cold milk.

What NOT to Do With a Knocked-Out Tooth

Here are a few important don’ts for knocked-out teeth:

• DON’T touch the root.
• DON’T let it dry out.
• DON’T scrub or clean it with soap, alcohol, or peroxide.
• DON’T put it on ice.

Any of these could kill the root, making the tooth impossible to replant!

What About KNocked-Out Baby Teeth?

Most of the time, when a baby tooth gets knocked out, it isn’t an emergency. Typically a dentist wouldn’t replant a baby tooth because that might create problems for the permanent tooth underneath. However, if it wasn’t loose beforehand, we recommend at least giving the dentist a call for some advice. There might be less obvious damage than what happened to the tooth.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

A SMOKING HABIT damages every organ and system in the body, including teeth and gums. We usually think of lung cancer first when it comes to the harm smoking can do, but it can cause a wide variety of problems for oral health.

Tobacco and Oral Cancer

Four out of every five people diagnosed with oral cancer either smoke or chew tobacco. The early symptoms of oral cancer include unusual white patches in the mouth, persistent mouth sores or pain, numbness, swelling, difficulty chewing and swallowing, and the sensation of having something stuck in the throat. The dentist is a key figure in early detection of oral cancer.

A Strange Effect of Smoking: Smoker’s Keratosis

In some cases, a smoking habit can cause white patches to develop on the roof of the mouth. They typically aren’t painful, but they can be pre-cancerous. These patches are smoker’s keratosis (or stomatitis nicotina), and the condition is still a mysterious one. The prevailing theory is that the white patches are the result of inflamed mucous glands.

The Risk of Gum Disease Goes Up for Smokers

Up to half of all adults over 30 have some level of gum disease, but a smoking habit both doubles the risk of developing it and makes it harder to treat. Untreated gum disease can lead to serious damage to the gum tissue, bone loss in the jaw, and loss of teeth. Particularly severe cases can even be life-threatening if the oral bacteria reach the bloodstream through the inflamed gums.

Vaping: Not Really Safer

Vaping and e-cigarettes tend to be portrayed as a healthier alternative to smoking, but the vapor still contains ultra-fine toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and nicotine.

Nicotine, no matter how it is packaged, reduces blood flow, which can affect the teeth and gums by making the gum tissue less healthy. Gum recession and tissue death can result. It also reduces saliva production, leading to dry mouth (which comes with a wide array of problems from bad breath to tooth decay), and it can trigger teeth grinding, which damages teeth.

Secondhand Smoke Is Also Harmful

Smokers sometimes claim that the only person they’re hurting with their habit is themselves, and they’re willing to accept the health risks. This, unfortunately, is not accurate. Studies suggest a link between cavities (in both baby teeth and adult teeth) and regular exposure to secondhand smoke, and broader secondhand smoke health risks are particularly serious for infants and small children, ranging from asthma attacks to infections to SIDS.

The Benefits of Quitting Smoking

A longtime heavy smoker might believe that they’ve already damaged their health beyond the point of return with their habit, so what’s the point of quitting? No matter how long and heavily someone has smoked, quitting can still improve their health outlook. It’s better to not start smoking in the first place, but quitting is worth it, and it’s never too late to start.

There Are Many Resources to Help Quit Smoking

No addictive habit is easy to quit, but having help and resources makes it easier. Having the support of family, friends, and counselors can go a long way, and there’s also great information available online. Another good resource is the dentist! If you’re a smoker, schedule regular dental exams (potentially more than two each year) to keep a close eye on your oral health, and make sure to keep up with daily brushing and flossing!

We love seeing our patients!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

MOST OF THE TIME, the only toothpaste ingredient that really gets talked about is fluoride, the active ingredient that helps remineralize tooth enamel and protects teeth from decay. The American Dental Association calls fluoride “nature’s cavity fighter,” and toothpaste must contain it in order to receive the ADA’s Seal of Acceptance.

Fluoride

Toothpaste containing fluoride is safe for young children if used in the correct amounts (a smear the size of a grain of rice up to age 3, the size of a pea from ages 3-6) and with parental supervision to make sure they spit it out. Let’s take a look at the other toothpaste ingredients.

Abrasives

Abrasives, such as calcium carbonate, dehydrated silica gels, and hydrated aluminum oxides, are toothpaste ingredients that help remove food debris and surface stains. They are there to scrub and polish the surface of our teeth, but be careful not to scrub too hard, because we can cause a lot of damage to our teeth and gums by overbrushing.

Flavors

Flavors, including sugar-free sweetening agents like saccharin or sorbitol, make our toothpaste taste good (because fluoride and abrasives on their own do not). The ADA will not give its Seal of Acceptance to any toothpaste that contains sugar.

Humectants

Humectants like sorbitol, glycol, or glycerol keep our toothpaste from becoming dry and crumbly. They trap water in it and give it a nice, smooth texture that can squeeze out of a tube.

Detergents

Finally, detergents like sodium lauryl sulfate make toothpaste foamy, ensuring that the other ingredients effectively coat our teeth.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

NOBODY ENJOYS HAVING a toothache, especially a young child who might be experiencing it for the first time. Toothaches can come on for a variety of reasons, and it’s a good idea to see the dentist, especially if it doesn’t go away after a couple of days, but what about when a toothache happens over the holidays or on a weekend and it’s not as easy to go to the dentist?

What Causes a Toothache?

Tooth decay is the most common reason a tooth might initially feel painful, but it isn’t the only cause. Tooth pain can also come from pulp inflammation, dental abscesses, a cracked tooth, or gum disease. An impacted tooth (meaning one trapped beneath the gums by bone, gum tissue, or other teeth) can be painful too.

Tooth sensitivity can cause discomfort too, while sometimes tooth pain is the result of a sinus infection or congestion. A child’s toothache could be as simple as teething from an incoming baby tooth or adult tooth, in which case it’s merely a normal part of their development.

Managing the Toothache Before a Dental Appointment

The best thing to do for your child when they have a toothache is to come to the dentist, but if that isn’t possible at first, here are a few tips you can follow to manage their discomfort in the meantime:

• Help them rinse and spit with warm saltwater to reduce the inflammation
• Apply a cold compress to their cheek near where it’s sore
• Give them some over-the-counter anti-inflammatory inflammation meant for children

Avoiding Future Toothaches

Any parent who has helped their child through one toothache wants it to be their last. Not all causes are preventable, like sinus infections, teething, a sore loose tooth, or a tooth damaged in an accident, but you can do a lot to protect their teeth from developing aches and pains due to poor dental health.

Helping them build strong daily oral hygiene habits is the most important thing. Teach them to brush their teeth twice a day for two minutes using a soft-bristled brush and fluoride toothpaste, encourage them to floss daily, and schedule regular dental appointments for them, building a positive relationship with the dentist so that they have a good outlook about dental care. Another great way to prevent toothaches is to cut down on sugary snacks and drinks, especially between mealtimes.

Remedies Help, But Come to the Dentist Too

Pain is our bodies’ natural alert system to tell us when something is wrong, so we shouldn’t ignore it. No matter what you think might be the cause of your child’s toothache, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment with the dentist in case the underlying problem is more serious. We can take a look and provide any treatment that may be necessary to get them smiling again!

Let’s defeat that toothache together!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

SPORTS INJURIES, ACCIDENTS, and tooth decay are just a few of the reasons we might need to use dental implants to replace missing teeth. Thanks to modern dentistry, we don’t need to settle for having a gap in our smiles for the rest of our lives.

There are a few ways to fill that gap, and dental implants, which we offer at Virginia Center for Advanced Dentistry in Midlothian, VA, are the best option for duplicating the function and appearance of a natural tooth.

Implants or False Teeth?

Partial and full dentures have been a common solution for missing teeth for many years, but they have their disadvantages. They are prone to slipping and falling out if not properly secured, and they can lead to jaw pain and soreness in the gums. They also do not stimulate the jaw bones, so patients with dentures tend to suffer bone loss.

Implants, on the other hand, are metal posts surgically placed in the jawbone under the gums and are basically a new root for a replacement tooth that looks and acts like a natural tooth.

The only advantage dentures have over dental implants is that they are cheaper. It’s important to fill in the gap with an implant as soon as possible so the bone doesn’t erode and the surrounding teeth don’t collapse into the hole causing alignment and bite issues.

Types of Implants

The health of the underlying jaw bone will determine a patient’s eligibility for dental implants and which type they will receive. In a patient with healthy bone, an endosteal implant will be used. This is simply a titanium post surgically placed into the jawbone. After a healing period, the patient will have a second surgery in which a crown is placed on top of the post.

For patients with bone that can’t support an endosteal implant (or patients who don’t want the surgery involved with them), there are subperiosteal implants. Instead of a titanium post, a metal frame is placed under the gums but on top of the jawbone. Posts are then added to this framework, and they protrude from the gum line like endosteal implants so that crowns can be attached.

Implants and Braces?

In most cases where a patient needs orthodontic treatment as well as implants, the braces come first, because once an implant is in the jaw, it won’t move. On rare occasions, if the braces only need to shift the front teeth and the missing teeth are located in the back, the implant can be placed before or during orthodontic treatment!

Come Talk to Us About Dental Implants!

Getting dental implants is nothing to be worried about! 3,000,000 people in the United States alone have at least one dental implant and that number continues to grow. If you need a dental implant, come see us! We’ll evaluate your situation and develop the perfect plan to get you the smile you deserve.

Keep taking care of those teeth!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

SMALL, FIBROUS DISKS act as cushions between the ball and socket of our jaw joints, and if something goes wrong with that disk, such as it eroding or shifting out of proper alignment, or if arthritis wears away the cartilage on the bone or there’s a traumatic injury to the joint, the result could be a TMJ disorder. These are more common in adults, but kids can get them too.

Symptoms of TMJ Disorders

Common symptoms of a TMJ disorder include clicking, popping, or grating in the joint, pain or tenderness of the jaw, pain in one or both of the joints, difficult or painful chewing, aching pain around the face or ear, and difficulty opening or closing the jaw.

Techniques to Soothe an Aching Jaw

There are a few ways to reduce TMJ pain. Avoid yawning if possible, or control a yawn with a fist pressed beneath the jaw. Keep extreme jaw movements to a minimum (such as when singing or yawning). Remember that the jaw’s natural resting position is with the teeth slightly apart, not all the way closed. Eat more soft foods that don’t need much chewing.

How the Dentist Can Help

Most TMJ pain is temporary and will go away on its own before too long, but some requires treatment. Treatment can vary from simple measures like ice packs, exercise, and moist heat to more complex solutions like medication and splints, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), ultrasound treatment, or trigger-point injections. Jaw surgery may be recommended if all else fails, and orthodontic treatment can help if the cause is related to jaw alignment.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

DIABETES, WHETHER TYPE 1, 2, or even gestational, makes it more difficult to maintain good dental health. There is a reciprocal relationship between oral health and diabetes, meaning that it’s harder to keep your teeth and gums healthy if you aren’t carefully managing the diabetes, but the diabetes also becomes harder to control if you aren’t prioritizing oral health.

An Overview of the Types of Diabetes

All three types of diabetes impact oral health, but they work in different ways. Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed early in life, and it involves the pancreas being unable to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes (up to 95% of cases) is usually diagnosed decades into adulthood, and it involves the body failing to use insulin efficiently to regulate blood sugar. Gestational diabetes affects some pregnant women, who become less able to regulate blood sugar during pregnancy.

What Does Blood Sugar Have to Do With Oral Health?

Sugar is very harmful to teeth and gums because it’s what oral bacteria love to eat. Sugar in the bloodstream is also a problem, which is where diabetes comes in. High blood sugar is rough on the immune system and makes it hard for the body to fight back against pathogens — including oral bacteria. It leaves diabetic patients more vulnerable to oral inflammation and tooth decay.

Gum Disease and Diabetes

Over 20% of diabetics develop a form of gum disease anywhere from the early stages of inflammation (gingivitis) to advanced gum disease (periodontitis) that threatens the teeth, the gums, and even the supporting bone. Untreated gum disease can take a toll on overall health and even become life-threatening if the bacteria reach the bloodstream.

Gum disease symptoms to watch for include chronic bad breath, the gums becoming swollen, red, and prone to bleeding, receding gums, and loosening of the teeth. Any one of these symptoms could indicate poor gum health, and diabetes increases the risk of other problems such as slower healing, worse and more frequent infections, dry mouth, enlarged salivary glands, fungal infections, and burning mouth syndrome.

Diabetes Can Complicate Orthodontic Treatment

No matter what’s causing it, gum disease can present a challenge for orthodontic treatment. Parents of kids with type 1 diabetes should take extra care to help them keep their diabetes under control and to promote good oral health. Then, if they need braces, their treatment will be able to go forward and they will be able to enjoy the benefits of properly aligned teeth.

Controlling Diabetes Leads to Better Oral Health Outcomes

Diabetes adds a complication to many elements of daily life, but it is perfectly possible to reach and maintain good oral health while diabetic. Good oral hygiene habits like daily flossing, twice-daily brushing with fluoride toothpaste and a soft-bristled toothbrush, and regular dental checkups are all essential. So is being careful with sugar intake!

The Dentist Can Help You Fight Diabetes!

Regular dental exams are essential for everyone, but especially for anyone with diabetes. The early signs of a dental problem aren’t always obvious to people who don’t work in the dental field. The sooner they can be caught by a dentist, the easier it will be to deal with them. Your physician can also work with your dentist towards the shared goal of managing your diabetes as well as your oral health. That’s why it’s so important to keep both of them in the loop!

Let’s fight for your good oral health together!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

WHAT LOVES SUGAR just as much as kids? Cavity-causing bacteria. That’s why dental caries is the most common childhood disease. Whenever we eat or drink something sugary or acidic, our saliva needs half an hour to wash away the residue. It’s a good idea to limit sugar consumption to mealtimes and swap out sugary snacks with fruits and veggies.

Be Careful With Bottles and Sippy Cups

We don’t recommend switching soda with fruit juice, because fruit juice is just as bad for a child’s teeth! Even milk contains sugar. Any drink that contains sugar can be very damaging to oral health if a child is left to sip on it between meals in a sippy cup or bottle. This kind of tooth decay is so common that it has nicknames: “baby bottle tooth decay” or “bottle rot.”

Set a Good Oral Health Example

We’re not insisting that parents cut their kids off from sugar entirely, but try to restrict sugary drinks and treats to mealtimes and cut back overall. If a child needs a bottle or sippy cup to soothe them, fill it with water. It’s also essential to model good oral health habits for growing kids, like brushing and flossing and regular dentist appointments.

Top image used under CC0 Public Domain license. Image cropped and modified from original.

The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.