Chewy, Sticky Snacks: Navigating This Childhood Favorite

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The second your child points to the chewiest, stickiest candy selection in the world as the ideal treat of the moment, you know that you’ve got your work cut out for you. Just one glance and all you see is tooth decay, damaged braces, and a tired jaw. What’s a parent to do when all you’re really attempting to accomplish is to let your kid have fun, while you keep everyone’s oral health in check? It’s not always easy, of course, but we do have some ideas that may make this common conundrum easier to handle!

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filed under: Cavities/Tooth Decay, Tips/Advice

Are Those Bleeding Gums You’re Seeing?

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Usually, you don’t see what appear to be traces of blood in the sink when your child spits during dental hygiene. You don’t see blood on your child’s gums either. So, what to think about it when you do notice bleeding? Is it really blood, you wonder? Should you rush your child in to see us? While we certainly don’t suggest panicking, we do suggest you follow some simple steps, so you’re certain your child’s oral health is A-OK!

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filed under: Gum Disease, Tips/Advice

Kids’ Smile Care: Set Yourself Up On This 3-6-9 Month Schedule

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Every time you turn around, you find that you should be scheduling this visit every so often, you should be replacing that product within such-and-such amount of time, and you should probably begin getting ready for some other monumental moment within some other particular frequency of time. It can be enough to make your head spin! To help you feel like you’re on track and you’ve got mile markers for ease with kids’ dental care, try considering a 3-6-9 approach!

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filed under: Family Dentistry, Tips/Advice

Chewing Gum: Why Offer Your Kids Gum With Xylitol?

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No matter what you do, you will probably find yourself faced with kids who are asking (or begging and pleading) for gum. Fortunately, we live in a world in which gum is not limited to the full-of-sugar stuff that tastes exceptional but that is also known for contributing to oral health problems like tooth decay. Instead, the suggestion is to offer your kids (and yourself) sugarless chewing gum because it’s still fun and it’s much safer. To take this a step further, we encourage you to consider chewing gum with a sweetener called xylitol. Learn more!

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filed under: Cavities/Tooth Decay, Tips/Advice

Smile Time: Is Sharing Always Caring?

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Yes, it’s a very wise thing to teach your children to share! You want them to grow up to be kind and giving human beings, after all. However, this can become just a tad bit confusing in relation to oral health. You want your children to learn that “sharing is caring” but you don’t want them to share germs! So, let’s walk through some specifics you may not have considered just yet to ensure you’re making some important distinctions between good sharing…and then the not so good.

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filed under: General Dentistry, Good Hygiene

Dental Care: Why It Might Be Time For A Routine

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When you hear that focusing on routine-making can be an extremely valuable tool within dental care for your child, you may think to yourself, “But I already have a daily routine!” If you’ve already got times and practices for smile care all laid out on a day-to-day basis, then you may have already mastered the art of sticking to a schedule. However, if you’ve got the ball rolling as far as your usual activities (such as taking kids to school, heading out for extra-curricular activities, bedtime, etc.), you may want to allow this to spill right on over into things like brushing, flossing, and visits. See what we mean!

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filed under: Family Dentistry, General Dentistry

Your Summertime Checklist: Review For Smile Protection!

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We like to offer up information-packed, concise review checklists on occasion as we approach new seasons, since you likely already have a million other details on your mind. For summertime, your kids have their minds set on one thing: Having fun! While you certainly want to enjoy yourself, too, you get the added bonus of being responsible to ensure everyone remains healthy and safe (and that includes promoting smile health along the way). Let’s offer you that refresher you need, so you’re good to go once summer is in full swing!

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filed under: General Dentistry, Tips/Advice

Helpful Smile Tips: Grocery Shopping With The Kids

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When you go to the store alone, you can breeze through with your list, get everything you want, and leave. You don’t ever hear, “Can I have this, please?!” as your child begs for some sort of candy that is definitely not on the list for smile health. So, you may wonder to yourself, how to approach shopping when you’ve got your kiddos in tow without dealing with an hour-long battle of the wills? We can offer at least a few potentially helpful tips!

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filed under: Tips/Advice