September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month!

Dr. Lindhorst recently went on a cruise and was sitting on the deck listening to the happy giggles of kids all around.  Huge waves of water from the nearby water slide were sloshing around as kids came down the plastic tubes.  Those waves however, were way too large for a normal size child to make. Kiddos of all ages, from adorably squishy toddlers in parents' arms to teenagers squeezing into way too tiny bathing suits with folds of fat peaking out from under sun shirts, were mostly... well... overweight!  It's an alarming trend to see all around us especially in the age of inexpensive fast food restaurants, availability of sodas and juices, and many unhealthy choices right at the eye level in grocery stores.  These foods can have terrible dental consequences, but we worry about them from a more global perspective as well.

Did you know that 1 in 3 children in the United States is either overweight or obese? Obesity increases a child's risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, asthma, and sleep apnea.

Luckily, we can help prevent childhood obesity. The Smiles for Kids team encourages your family to make these changes together to help minimize your child's risk:

(1) Eat healthy meals together. Try to incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables into every meal of the day. Avoid eating refined sugars. If you're eating grains, choose whole-grain foods. Have your kids help prepare meals so they can learn about healthy choices and portion sizes.

(2) Play together. Encourage your kids to get active. They can play sports, go on a walk with the family, or even ride their bike around the neighborhood. Try to encourage 30-60 minutes of activity time every day.

(3) Limit their screen time. Though ipads and computers are very tempting, try to limit the amount of time your child plays video games or watches television.

(4) Talk to your pediatrician. Know your child's BMI (body mass index) and track it as they grow. It is a calculation based off of your child's weight and height.

These small changes can make a world of difference. We hope that you will spread the word about National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month!

Take care,

Dr. Jadav & the Smiles for Kids Team

Dental Tips for Expecting Moms-From Our Expecting Mom Dr. Jadav

As an expecting mother, I thought I would share some useful information about pregnancy and your oral health.

Seeing the Dentist

It is recommended that you see your dentist for a checkup and cleaning during your pregnancy.   Though it is safe to provide dental treatment throughout pregnancy, it is recommended that you go in your second trimester when you will likely be the most comfortable.  If you do get a cavity or notice anything unusual on your gums, you should see your dentist regardless of where you are in your pregnancy timeline. Let your provider know that you are pregnant and how far along you are so that they can best accommodate you.  The relationship between periodontitis (gum and jaw bone disease) and its effect on preterm, low birth weight infants is still being studied, but if you have a history of gum disease, it is important to see your dentist and hygienist regularly.

What You May Notice

There are several changes that occur in your mouth during pregnancy.  If you suffer from morning sickness and vomiting, it is important to wait one hour after an episode before brushing your teeth.  In the meantime, it’s a good idea to rinse with a cup of water mixed with one teaspoon of baking soda.  You want to minimize erosion to your teeth after stomach acid exposure. Also, you may notice your gums looking red and are even bleeding. This is due to the effects of your hormones changing. Usually these changes come about during your second trimester and peak in the 8^th month of pregnancy. Most women find their front teeth are affected more often than their back teeth. 

Changes You Can Make

Maintaining good oral health is very important during pregnancy for both you and your little bundle of joy. You can do this with brushing, flossing, eating a healthy diet, and seeing your dentist. By improving your oral health, you will decrease bacteria in your own saliva. This will reduce the transfer of cavity-causing bacteria to baby. Talk to your dentist about chewing xylitol gum to help minimize the mother-child transmission of this bacteria.

Dr. Jadav

OUR BIG THREE RULES FOR HEALTHY TEETH

Those of you who have been seeing us on regular basis have heard us repeatedly talk about the BIG THREE RULES. I know... It gets repetitious, but honestly it is hard to overemphasize just how simple and important they are!  So for prosperity sake and for a simple and quick reference we figured that putting them on our blog might just be one more reminder of these easy secrets to healthy teeth.

RULE #1
CLEAN TEETH AT NIGHT

Think of what your body does at night.  It shuts down, it rests, it goes into a “save” mode in order to regenerate for the upcoming challenges of the day ahead.  Your mouth is no different.  It "sleeps" and this means that number one protective substance in your mouth, your saliva, is at its minimum activity level. The cleaning system is shut down.  Cavity causing bacteria love that environment. So if any sugar and acid from your daily consumption of foods and drinks is left on the teeth for all these snoozing hours, cavities will slowly but surely form.  So floss and brush at night and go to sleep with clean teeth.  That does meant that after brushing there is no more snacking, no more last sips of milk, no more sneaking in even healthy snacks like fruit.  Water is the only acceptable snack.  Let those teeth be clean for this vulnerable time of the day and you will take your first step to healthy teeth.  Now add to this one more factor for your kids.  Baby teeth have thinner enamel than permanent teeth so it takes very little time for cavities to form.  Protect them by this simple nightly routine of 3 minutes all together (1 minute of flossing and 2 minutes of brushing)!

RULE #2
USE FLUORIDATED TOOTHPASTE

With all the recent hoopla about fluoride we get so many questions about this.  Funny thing is, as our country is getting more and more Internet crazed about this wonderful tooth medicine, Europe is actually moving towards higher concentrations of fluoride in toothpaste, community fluoride applications in daycares and schools and other community programs involving fluoride that have largely decreased amount of dental decay in children.  At a recent dental conference in Europe, I was pleasantly surprised to see these fluoridation efforts and their amazing impact on the rate of dental decay (cavities) in countries like Sweden, Netherlands, or Denmark.  Bottom line? Fluoride is medicine and should be used as such.  The amount and concentration should be based on individual's risk for decay as well as size.  Fluoridated toothpaste is a baseline that provides our teeth strength and ability to recoup damage done to enamel throughout the day.  Or governing body American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends using fluoride toothpaste as soon as baby teeth come in.  In our practice we support that but allow parents worried about fluorosis (discoloration of teeth due to overuse of fluoride) to start using it closer to 18-24 months when permanent teeth have largely formed and will not be affected. We show parents how little toothpaste should be used and those amounts will not cause fluorosis.  Any amount larger than pea size in kids over the age of five and larger than a grain of rice in kids under five is unnecessary.  We also educate parents on keeping fluoridated toothpaste stored away from the kids in unreachable areas,  in order to prevent any overdose since toothpaste tastes rather yummy!  Bottom line:  Nighttime brushing should be done with fluoridated toothpaste closely supervised and dosed by parents.  It will allow those teeth to strengthen and recover thorough the night.

RULE #3
WATCH OUR TWO "DANGER FOOD CATEGORIES" AND USE THEM SPARINGLY AS TREATS ONLY:

LIQUID SUGARS AND GOOEY, CHEWY, STICKY SNACKS.

So before you panic... No it does not mean that you can't ever have that Sprite, Gatorade or pack of Skittles.  But before you reach for them consider what they are made of and what that does to those young, thin, and sensitive teeth.  So first and for most, all these popular drinks such as fruit juices, Capri Suns, Sprites, Gatorades and others are extremely acidic.  If you research their pH, you will find that they are rather dangerously close to the acidity of battery acid!!!  Anything with a pH under 5.5 will dissolve enamel and allow for bacteria to easily penetrate those injured teeth.  These drinks have acidity of 2.1-4.5!  Now add to that the fact that one drink has between 5 and 12 teaspoons of sugar depending on which one you chose, and you have a perfect combination for cavity making.  Check out this great website (drinksdestroyteeth.org) for fun science projects, pictures and tables with acidity and sugar content of more popular drinks.  We have those charts in our office too so stop by and pick one up for your fridge!  “OK so what should we drink?”  you might ask...  I hate to tell you what you already know, but water is your teeth's best friend.  Drink tons of water throughout the day and you will give yourself and your teeth a great gift of health.  Milk is also a good choice especially with meals.  Milk has a pH of 6.7 which is only slightly more acidic than water and it has 1 teaspoon of sugar per serving. Flavored milk like chocolate or strawberry has closer to 5 teaspoons of sugar, but it is still a much better occasional choice than acidic juices.  Just remember to not allow your kids to go to bed with milk. Don't forget RULE #1!  And when it comes to chewy snacks such as Skittles, Starbursts or gummies, so deceptively called "fruit snacks" or "fruit roll ups", they are just as acidic and sweet as juice, but they have additional cavity forming quality of sticking tightly and effectively to the grooves of those baby molars and young permanent teeth.  It takes several days to brush them off even with diligent brushing.  So instead of making that sticky choice at the supermarket shelf (so conveniently located at kids' eye level and right by checkout where your kids are bored and you have no choice but to stop for a while!) think of other sweets that are neither acidic nor sticky.  Yes they will be sugary, but one out of three ain't too bad!  Think of snacks based on milk such as chocolate or ice cream. They sure will make little faces light up in smiles and, if used sparingly, will keep their teeth out of harm’s way!

So that's it in a nutshell. Well... Maybe a large nutshell, but these are the rules our team lives by and believes in.  We have spent many hours considering what are the most important lessons we can pass on to our dental families and these are the three things we believe will make a huge difference in children's dental health.  And I'm sure we will repeat this mantra again at your next appointment which we are already looking forward to!

SCHOOL LUNCH CHALLENGE

It's back to school time and "back to school shopping" is on everyone's top priority list.  We've seen some fabulous dresses, super fast shoes and a ton of lovely hair accessories on our fabulous patients.  But this is also the time when moms and dads are starting to think about that fun task of making lunches and wondering how to make them interesting, nutritional, yummy and attractive to the little ones.  My biggest challenge is to make sure that I make a lunch that gets eaten and not brought back home neatly squashed by the water bottle!  And we really want to make sure that those gummies (who doesn't love those?!!!), sweets, juices and other such enemies of teeth will not find their way into the lunch boxes too often.  So we figured that it is time for some fun ideas of foods that will not harm little teeth.  So here they are: 1. Yogurts or cottage chesese are always good, full of calcium and nutritional.  Look for yogurts with low sugar content and you will be surprised to find great choices even in easy to freeze tubes. 2. Cheesees of all kinds.  Chose ones with lower fat content, but string cheese works great and is fun to eat. 3. Fruit shishkabobs are so fun,  surprise your little ones with different fruit selections on a toothpick each day.  Make fun color designs and stick figures with fruit. Fruit is wonderful anyway you do it!  Mix it with those yogurts, put it in a box or pack whole pieces like apples, bananas, or plums.  Consider adding nuts of all kinds as well. 4. Crunchy veggies such as carrots, celery, broccoli, sugar snap peas or cauliflower. Put them together with your little one's favorite dip such as peanut butter or ranch dressing. 5. Meat roll ups.  You can pick your kids' favorite meat and make it pretty by rolling it up, putting it on toothpicks, alternating it with cheese or fruit. 6. Sandwiches are great and can be lots of fun if cut into fun shapes with your cookie cutters!

For drinks void anything we call LIQUID SUGARS. All juices, Gatorade, Powerade, or carbonated sodas are not only full of sugar (6-12 teaspoons each!) but also very acidic.  That's a great and powerful combination for cavities.  Acid causes erosion and dissolution of teeth and then the sugar is deposited into those weakened areas.  Soon after that cavities will form.  Replace these drinks with water or milk. Even chocolate milk will do although it does have more sugar than regular white milk.  These days there are flavored waters on the market that can be fun as well, but check their sugar content and artificial flavors and make sure you are comfortable with whatever the labels say before sending it with your kiddos.

Have fun with lunch! Make your kids lunch box colorful and exciting to make sure that all their friends want to peak in it daily.  That will make your kids happy and they surely will eat all you have packed!

Summer Time 2014 at Smiles For Kids

Summer time at Smile For Kids is always the most fun part of the year. Seeing our high school and college kids is super fun and rewarding after a full year of hard work they have been doing. You guys are busy but so much more relaxed in summertime!!! We know that this summer break is greatly appreciated to recharge some of those worn out by studying and finals batteries. But at the same time it seems that these days sports are ongoing for the summer. We have some very promising swimmers, baseball players, basketball rising starts, gymnastics pros, football players and dancers! We better start getting those autographs before they get too famous to come back and see their dentist. In the summer we also live vicariously through our patients’ trips. Some of you guys are having fantastic vacations! We’ve heard of European adventures with friends and families. Two of our recent visitors are going on Alaskan cruises. We love to hear about those dog sledding adventures, helicopter rides to glaciers, whale watching tours… Oh how we’d love to come along! And then, of course, every year we have a slur of Disney fans. If we ever go to Disney parks, we will have to call you guys for advice. There are so many cool things you guys are doing there, so many favorites when it comes to parks, rides, hotels, and food. We just can’t keep up! And then there are our “city dwellers”. So far we’ve heard of trips to New York, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and Miami. How fun! Can’t wait to hear about the museums, tours and food in those cities. But perhaps our favorite is camp. We can almost smell those pine woods, feel that cool water while jumping on water trampolines, paddling or kayaking, taste those s’mores and hang on tight to those horses! Oh what memories of childhood that brings for all of us! It’s hard to tell which one of those camps sounds best. Maybe we should try them all? Just to test them out for our patients… You know… research is what it’s called...

So in the meantime what is our Smiles For Kids team up to you might ask? Well, we are here for you in the summer time! We know that this is probably the best time for all our kiddos to make it to the dentist. Yes, those summer camps are important and definitely an investment, but at least you are not getting letters from the school district if you skip to come see us. And no hours of make-up work just because you skipped an hour of school. So yes, we are here in the summer time for you guys to come and visit us. We try our hardest to accommodate for all the kiddos. We have extra hygienists in the summer so we can see more kids. We have also added a new hygiene chair in order to make sure our wait times are short. You might have met Sally, our additional hygienist, who is wonderful with the little patients and has fun with us. We also have Victor helping us turn over chairs and work in the lab. He is going to be a junior in high school and wants to be a pediatric dentist one day. We are so excited to have him help us. He is amazing. Our schedule in the summer varies a little bit. While normally we work Tuesdays through Fridays, some weeks in the summer we work Monday through Thursday to give our team a four day weekend once in a while to hang out with their families and friends. Maybe even take a short weekend trip here and there... And then of course we took our traditional one week long vacation for the week of 4^th of July. That was fun and gave us a much needed breather. But otherwise both Dr. Lindhorst and Dr. Jadav as well as the whole team are excited to see you guys. If you haven’t been in yet, come tell us your vacation stories and plans. And did you know about our fun summer contest??? Draw us a vacation picture and you could win a pack of Schlitterbahn tickets! We even have paper and crayons in the office if you forget to do it at home. Looking forward to spending this last month of Summer 2014 with you guys!