Month: March 2020

We all know that candy can easily rot a child’s teeth, but unfortunately, it’s far from the only danger when it comes to your child’s diet. Some foods are just as bad as candy for a child’s teeth, and sometimes, even worse. At Dogwood Pediatric Dentistry, our mission is to help kids throughout Savannah and Statesboro develop beautiful, healthy smiles through comprehensive pediatric dental treatment, so we’d like to highlight a few foods that can contribute to tooth decay just as much as candy.

Top Foods That Damage the Teeth

Controlling and moderating the consumption of sweets is important for helping your child maintain a healthy smile, but unfortunately, candy isn’t the only culprit. Here are a few common foods that can be just as damaging as candy for your child’s smile:

• Citrus Fruits: Citrus fruits may be delicious and packed with Vitamin C, but they’re also packed with acids that eat away at tooth enamel. Overexposure to citrus fruit can weaken the enamel and leave the teeth vulnerable to bacteria and cavities. 
• Potato Chips: Crunchy snacks like potato chips are free of sugars and most acids, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe. Unfortunately, the carbohydrates in starchy snacks break down into sugars, which combine with bacteria to produce acids that attack tooth enamel. Plus, potato chips can stick themselves to the teeth after chewing, allowing them to sit on the tooth for a long time and slowly corrode the enamel. 
• Pickles: Pickled cucumbers may seem like a relatively healthy snack for kids that like them, but the vinegar can cause problems. Vinegar is acidic and has a low pH of 2.4, which means it breaks down the enamel in the same way as citrus. 
• Popcorn: While popcorn isn’t bad for the teeth offhand, it can cause a problem later on. When popcorn shells get lodged between the teeth and under the gums, they can trigger an infection of the gums and a host of other problems. 

Contact Your Savannah, GA Kids Dentist

All of these foods pose a risk to your child’s healthy smile, but that doesn’t mean they’re completely off-limits. What matters is to ensure your child consumes foods like this in moderation, and to always practice good oral hygiene by brushing and flossing regularly. We wish you luck in maintaining a tooth-friendly diet for your child, and if you still have questions, feel free to contact us to learn more about pediatric dental health. We can’t wait to hear from you!

As your premier choice when it comes to providing dentistry for children, we at Dogwood Pediatric Dentistry are always glad to go above and beyond in delivering the most compassionate care in our dentist office for kids. We offer a wide variety of pediatric dentistry services that are aimed to set up your child for a lifetime of healthy smiles. While we’re always here to do all we can to help while your child is in our office, it’s also important for you to keep an eye out for any potentially harmful oral habits that he or she engages in throughout daily life. One of these habits is thumb sucking, a behavior that’s more harmful than it seems. 

Why Thumb Sucking Is Harmful

Many people don’t realize thumb sucking can actually cause oral problems for a child. Since children are constantly developing, a child that engages in thumb sucking will have the pressure of the thumb interfere with natural jaw growth and tooth eruption when it rests against the gums. This can end up causing crooked teeth and other orthodontic problems, such as an open bite (where the upper teeth and lower teeth don’t overlap). This isn’t merely a cosmetic issue – it can make it more difficult for a child to chew, speak and interfere with sleeping habits. In most cases, thumb sucking is completely natural and will typically go away on its own. However, this isn’t always the case. If thumb sucking continues after your child has reached the age of four, it’s vital that you take steps to stop this behavior.

How to Stop a Thumb Sucking Habit

Thankfully, there are many different strategies for how to stop a thumb-sucking habit. Your kids’ dentist in Savannah and Statesboro recommends that you first try the following.

• Openly Communicate with Your Child – Oftentimes, the best method to stop a thumb sucking habit is simply to talk to your child about it. Many children don’t recognize the oral problems that thumb sucking can cause, which is why they continue to do it. You should first talk to your child about why thumb sucking is harmful and why it’s so important to curb this habit.
• Praise or Reward Your Child – Reinforcing proper behavior is very important. However, you should try to focus on making sure that your reinforcement is positive rather than negative. Praise – or even reward – your child if he or she lessens the act of thumb sucking. Feel free to get creative with your rewards – you could buy a new toy, allow for some dessert or delay bedtime!
• Avoid Problematic Circumstances – For some patients, the thumb sucking may occur in certain situations or times. If you’re noticing a pattern where your child begins to suck his or her thumb, it’s best to either avoid these circumstances completely or just keep your child occupied during these times. When your child is distracted or has his or her hands occupied, the thumb-sucking should be prevented.

Contact Dogwood Pediatric Dentistry Today!

If previous methods aren’t quite working the way that you’d like, we also offer habit appliances that are made to curb harmful oral habits. Feel free to contact us at (912) 298-KIDS or (912)-402-KIDS if you have any questions about our office or your child. If you’d like to schedule an appointment for your child in Savannah or Statesboro, please don’t hesitate to request a visit. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Thank you for considering Dogwood Pediatric Dentistry, your home for children’s dentistry in Savannah and Statesboro, GA. As providers of dentistry for children, we’re glad to offer a plethora of preventive dentistry services in our warm and welcoming, family-friendly environment. While we pride ourselves on the dental care that we offer, we’re well aware that patients have many options to choose from. In fact, when choosing a dentist, you may notice that there’s a number of different types of dentists – from general to cosmetic to family. We want to take this time to tell you why you should come and visit us for all your children’s dental needs instead of visiting a general dentist. 

The Difference Your Kid’s Dentist Offers

While the obvious difference between children and adults when it comes to dental care is that children’s teeth occasionally fall out, there’s actually so much more to take into consideration. Children require their very own specialized attention and care; unlike general dentists, pediatric dentists are capable of giving that to them. Pediatric dentists have extra training beyond dental school which allows them to better understand the needs of children. While general dentists and pediatric dentists may both be equally qualified and skilled in helping patients, general dentists don’t have the same training to specifically deal with all of a child’s unique needs.

Advantages of Your Kid’s Dentist

There are many reasons why you should consider going to a pediatric dentist in Savannah and Statesboro like us over a general dentist. Here are just a few of them:

• Pediatric dentists require an additional two years of training beyond dental school. In these two years, they’ll learn valuable skills that will provide exclusive dental benefits to children. They’ll learn about child behavior and psychology, the treatment of developing teeth, and the ability to make kids feel more comfortable during treatment.
• At Dogwood we are focused on the treatment of kids, which means there’s a greater emphasis on preventive dentistry and stopping any bad oral habits. This proves to be much more helpful for children, especially in the long term.
• Additionally, pediatric dentists offer many beneficial services to help ease the nerves of children, such as sedation dentistry.
• A dentist’s office for kids will typically provide a much more kid-friendly and comfortable environment.
• Since dental care is often provided exclusively to children, your pediatric dentists will have unparalleled levels of experience when it comes to dealing with kids.

Visit Us for Fun and Professional Children’s Dentistry!

If you’re interested in scheduling an appointment with us for your child in Savannah or Statesboro, GA, please feel free to give us a call at (912) 298-KIDS or (912)-402-KIDS. Alternatively, you can request a visit through our website. We can’t wait to see you and provide your child with the best and most personalized dental care in our dentist’s office for kids!

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