summerville pediatric dentistry – Summerville Pediatric Dentistry

The Best Way to Get a Child’s Loose Tooth Out

Nobody seems to have a distinct idea of what the Tooth Fairy actually looks like, but, regardless of her – or maybe his – appearance, for more than a century, he or she has helped make losing a baby tooth a less painful proposition for children throughout the world. Here in the United States, according to the results of a recent national survey, when American children go to sleep with a tooth placed carefully under their pillow, they wake up the next morning with an average of
$3.70 in its place. However, before that tooth can turn a profit, it has to come out of the child’s mouth, and, sometimes, that can be a problem, according to Rory Nathanson, a dental hygienist with Summerville Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics. Of course, a loose tooth is a common occurrence for young kids, Nathanson points out. The 20 baby teeth begin to emerge at the age of 6 months, and they usually start giving way to adult incisors, canines, bicuspids and molars between the ages of 5 and 8. She says once a tooth starts to wiggle, it’s best to let children continue to loosen it with their finger or tongue until it falls out on its own. “It shouldn’t be a scary thing,” Nathanson says. “Hard food like an apple or raw vegetables will help, and there’s no danger of swallowing the tooth because it’s so small.”

In most cases, a baby tooth is loose because an adult tooth is trying to emerge and push it out of the way. However, there are situations when a loose tooth might require a visit to the dentist – for example, if it’s loose because of some type of trauma to the face or if the child seems to be too young to be losing his or her baby teeth. “If you are unsure, bring the child in. We can take a panoramic X-Ray and see if the child is missing an adult tooth, in which case, the baby tooth wouldn’t come out on its own. We can determine if the baby tooth is worth saving or if it should be pulled,” she says. She adds that it’s not all that uncommon for people to keep one or two baby teeth their entire life, as long as the teeth remain healthy. “If the baby tooth is compromised or has a cavity, we might determine that it needs to be pulled and then do some orthodontic work to close up the space,” she explains. “Baby teeth are typically smaller, with shorter roots, but it doesn’t cause a problem if you keep a couple of them.” Nathanson says that some kids are terrified of losing a tooth, though it’s a natural part of growing up. And, if they do have to pay a visit to Summerville Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics to have a tooth removed, they’ll be able to take it home with them and still have the opportunity to place it under their pillow at night and reap the financial benefit of a visit from that vague and undefined character – the tooth fairy.

Finish the Job by Flossing

Brushing your teeth three or more times a day is certainly a major step toward making your incisors, canines, bicuspids, and molars as healthy, durable and useful as they can possibly be. But as functional as a toothbrush is, it needs help to complete this vital task.

That important assistance comes from regular flossing, finishing the job of cleaning your teeth by running string floss in between them and removing the food particles, plaque, and bacteria that threaten the health of your entire mouth and maybe other parts of your body as well.

“Brushing alone doesn’t clean every surface of each tooth,” says Rory Nathanson, a dental hygienist with Summerville Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics. “Each tooth has five surfaces; if you don’t floss, you’re leaving two surfaces unclean.”

She says if you ignore the benefits of flossing, plaque and bacteria will accumulate in those hard-to-reach-with-a-toothbrush areas of your mouth. Plaque can build up in as soon as 24 to 36 hours, causing cavities and contributing to the possibility of gingivitis – inflammation of the gums.

Nathanson says some of her patients avoid flossing because they say it makes their gums bleed. However, she points out that it’s the plaque that causes this problem and that “if you routinely clean these areas, your gums should stop bleeding.” She adds that cavities, another result of poor brushing and flossing habits, are considered to be the most chronic childhood disease, five times more common than asthma.

But why should young children go to the trouble of taking care of their teeth? After all, before too long, those baby teeth will fall out and be replaced by their permanent pearly whites.

“Kids need to develop good habits. The earlier you floss, the better it will be long-term for your teeth and for your overall health,” Nathanson says. “The mouth is the opening to the rest of the body. More and more studies show that other health problems are associated with bacteria in the mouth.”

At what age should children start flossing? According to Nathanson, kids should get into the habit of taking good care of their teeth as soon as they start to emerge. Of course, at that age, they’ll most likely need help from their parents.

“As long as they have teeth, they should floss,” Nathanson says. “At a young age, it’s more to get used to the idea of flossing so it won’t be totally foreign when they are 10 years old and have their adult teeth. It’s more about getting into the habit.”

She adds that by the time children are able to tie their own shoes, they should be responsible enough to floss without help from their mom or dad.

Nathanson says traditional string floss and floss picks – plastic toothpicks that include a small piece of floss – are both good options, adding that a pick is probably a little easier for parents to use on their children’s teeth. She adds that the best way to ensure the health of your kids’ teeth is to visit the dentist on a regular basis.

“Coming to the dentist every six months for a good cleaning is always the best option,” she concludes.

4 Animals With Unusual Teeth

ANIMALS MIGHT NOT BE as concerned with maintaining their oral health and hygiene as we are, but that doesn’t stop some of them from having very interesting teeth! Like our teeth are adapted to an omnivorous diet, animal teeth are adapted to the foods they eat. In some cases, the results can get pretty strange. Today, we’re going to focus on four of the weirdest sets of chompers we could find.

The Tusks Of The Babirusa

Babirusas are pigs native to Indonesia, but these pigs aren’t quite like the farm animals we’re used to. No, these pigs have a serious dental problem in the form of their multiple pairs of very large tusks. These tusks are actually the babirusas’ canine teeth, which continue to grow through their lives. The males’ upper canines grow right through their upper lips and keep growing, sometimes so much that they end up curving all the way back around towards their skulls! Yikes!

The Icepick Teeth Of The Payara

The payara is a carnivorous fish from the Amazon Basin whose lower fangs have earned it nicknames like “vampire tetra” and “saber-tooth barracuda.” These long, thin fangs range from four to seven inches long, and the payara uses them to impale its prey, including piranhas! Payara can grow to up to four feet long and 80 pounds!

The Serrated Bill Of The Goosander

At first, you might think a goosander looks like any other duck, but if you catch one yawning or chomping down on food, you’ll notice its rows of tiny, razor-sharp teeth! These European birds are members of the Merganser genus, also called sawbills — so named because of the 150 teeth lining their bills, which are designed to saw through whatever they eat, such as small mammals and sometimes even other birds!

The Red Fangs Of The Triggerfish

Triggerfish are a group of about forty different species of brightly colored fish marked by the lines and spots in their scales, but don’t let their beautiful scales distract you from their teeth! Triggerfish have very powerful jaws and teeth that they use to crush the shells of crustaceans. The redtoothed triggerfish is perhaps the weirdest species of the group, with bright red fangs protruding from its mouth!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlmWckxsynQ

Taking Care Of Your Teeth

Do you know of any other weird teeth out their in the wild? We’d love to hear about them! In the meantime, make sure you continue taking great care of your own pearly whites by brushing and flossing regularly. We look forward to seeing you at your next appointment!

We love helping our patients take care of their teeth!

Karate Kick Those Sugar Bugs!

BRUSHING OUR TEETH is something we can get so used to doing that we don’t really think about it, but are we doing it the right way? It can be easy to get into some bad tooth-brushing habits, and the result can be that your teeth aren’t getting cleaned properly and you could be doing damage to your gums. So let’s take a moment to go over good brushing technique.

What To Avoid When Brushing Your Teeth
A few of the things we should avoid when we brush our teeth are brushing too hard, only brushing up and down or side-to-side, and always starting in the same place. Brushing too hard can damage our enamel and our gum tissue, which is why we should also avoid hard-bristled brushes.
When we only brush up and down or side-to-side, we tend to miss the spaces between teeth, which allows plaque to build up and leads to tooth decay. Because brushing our teeth is such a routine thing to do, it can be very easy to do it the same way every time, but when we always start brushing in the same place, we tend to pay unequal attention to the first teeth we brush compared to the last. Try mixing things up so that your whole mouth can get the same level of attention!

Brushing Your Teeth The Right Way
The first rule of good brushing is one you’ve likely heard all your life: brush twice a day every day for at least two minutes. Do whatever you need to do to make brushing your teeth an unskippable part of your morning and evening routines. You could even play music so you know how long to keep brushing!
However, brushing isn’t just about quantity; it’s also about quality. Make sure to LOOK with your eyes to make sure all of the food and plaque from the day has been brushed away!! For the best cleaning action, hold your toothbrush at a 45 degree angle and focus on the gum line. Use gentle circular motions to brush the outsides, insides, and chewing surfaces of every tooth. And don’t forget to brush or scrape your tongue before you’re done! Like daily flossing, tongue-scraping is another crucial step for getting rid of harmful bacteria (and it will help keep your breath fresh!).

Timing is also important. Our teeth often feel unpleasant after a meal, but as much as you want to clean them, make sure you wait at least half an hour after eating before you brush. The acids in our food and produced by oral bacteria soften our enamel right after we eat, and it takes about half an hour for our saliva to restore a neutral pH. If we brush too soon, we can actually brush away some of our enamel!

Check out these videos with tips and tricks straight from our doctors!

Your Dentist Is Your Greatest Resource
If you’d like more tips on tooth brushing techniques, just ask us! We can make sure your oral health routine is on track for keeping your teeth healthy for life. And don’t forget that an essential component of having healthy teeth is scheduling regular dental appointments!

Now set that timer and slay those sugar bugs!