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Pediatric Dentistry: How to Care for Your Child’s Teeth

Outdoor portrait of happy smiling infant baby boy

photo credit: Robert Hainer | DollarPhotoClub

Raising a child takes a lot of effort, and one piece of the puzzle is pediatric dentistry. Your children rely on you to care for their teeth and teach them how to do so on their own. Check out these five tips to help you care for your child’s teeth.

No. 1 – Clean Gums Before Teeth Appear

There’s no point in worrying about dental hygiene before your baby even has any teeth, right? Wrong. Even before teeth emerge, there’s still bacteria in the mouth. Without teeth, the bacteria can’t really do too much, but it’s still a good idea to keep the gums clean, especially as teeth are just starting to sprout. For babies under three months, it’s not necessary to use a toothbrush. Just get a washcloth or piece of gauze, and simply wipe the gums with warm water to get rid of the bacteria.

No. 2 – Start Brushing Once the First Tooth Appears

Once the first tooth finally appears, we suggest using a toothbrush to brush the tooth. Make sure you choose an infant toothbrush. You can use a very small amount of toothpaste if you’d like, but make sure to clean away any excess. Alternatively, a toothbrush and some water will also be sufficient to brush off any plaque. Continue cleaning the gums with the toothbrush or washcloth. When the first tooth appears (or by your child’s first birthday) we recommend taking your child in to see us, or to another dentist that specializes in pediatric dentistry.

No. 3 – Gradually Allow Your Child to Brush Their Own Teeth

Good habits start at a young age. Continue to brush your child’s teeth until they have the coordination to do so on their own, which usually occurs around the age of eight. You’ll still want to monitor them to ensure they are brushing properly. Even if your child has the ability to brush and floss properly, that doesn’t mean they’ll remember to do so every time. Help them by watching them brush and by reminding them of how to brush properly.

No. 4 – Educate Your Child on Good Oral Hygiene Habits Early

Primary teeth aren’t permanent, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t just as important as permanent teeth. Even though primary teeth are going to fall out, ensure your children take good care of their teeth. Not only will it prevent painful cavities, but teaching them how to care for their teeth early is crucial for healthy, lifelong oral hygiene habits. A child who learns the importance of thorough brushing and flossing is more likely to care for their permanent teeth in the same way!

No. 5 – Promote Healthy Eating Habits

Another good way to help your children’s teeth for life is to promote healthy eating habits from day one. Limit the amount of surgery foods and beverages to help prevent problems before they start. Just like with teaching good oral hygiene habits, teaching your child healthy eating habits early will help them as adults. If you allow your child to eat a lot of sugar, they’ll continue to eat a lot of sugar as adults, which is bad for their oral and overall health.

Caring for your child’s teeth is important for keeping a healthy mouth and promoting good habits. If it’s time for your child’s first dental visit, or if you just need more information, contact Landmark Dental Group, located in Santa Cruz.

3 Reasons You Can’t Skip Your Family Dentistry Checkup!

photo credit: yoshi5 | dollarphotoclub

Family dentistry is about preventing and treating dental problems at every age, from baby to the elderly. One way that we do this at Landmark Dental Group is by providing routine dental cleanings and examinations. Even if you think your oral hygiene habits can rival any dentist, you shouldn’t skip these routine annual checkups because they are extremely important to your oral health.

Cleanings Eliminate Tartar

Even if you take impeccable care of your teeth, keep in mind that bacteria live naturally in your mouth. And while routine brushing and flossing can usually eliminate it, that bacteria is sneaky. It will hide in every nook and cranny until it can form tartar, which can only be removed by a dental professional.

Routine dental cleanings remove this tartar to prevent cavities and other dental conditions, such as periodontal disease/bone loss. For people who may have some gum recession that creates pockets or gaps between the gums and teeth, tartar can even hide there. Scaling and root planing is a more advanced cleaning that cleans and smooths the surface of teeth below the gum line.

Dentists Help to Prevent More Serious Problems

During routine dental examinations, we aren’t just looking for cavities. Like any other good family dentistry practice, we’re also thinking about potential problems. These potential problems may be minor and easy to prevent. For example, your dentist may notice that you aren’t brushing your back teeth as well as you should. In that case, a simple reminder and a few helpful tips can prevent future cavities.

Other problems could be more serious, such as gum disease. You may not realize that your gums are swollen or red, but your dentist can spot the warning signs that gingivitis may be brewing. A good cleaning and some education on proper oral health and hygiene can prevent or reverse the gingivitis before it develops or worsens.

Your Dentist Can Spot Unseen Trouble

Besides preventing future problems, routine examinations allow your dentist to spot trouble before you realize something is wrong. X-rays can reveal an infection that wasn’t causing any pain, and a close inspection could reveal a chip or a crack in a back tooth that wasn’t bothering you.

Sometimes, however, the dentist may spot something a little more dangerous, such as oral cancer. Even if you aren’t at risk for oral cancer, it’s still one thing your dentist looks for during examinations. As with most forms of cancer, it’s important to catch oral cancer as early as possible. If you neglect your routine dental examinations, you might not realize you have oral cancer until you start showing advanced symptoms.

Routine dental cleanings and examinations aren’t just about cleaning your teeth. Your dentist uses them to help spot or prevent more serious conditions. If you’ve put off visiting the dentist for too long, contact Landmark Dental Group, our family dentistry office in Santa Cruz, today.

Dental Implants: They’ll Make You Smile!

photo credit: Dollar Photo Club.

In this day and age, people are more concerned than ever about having a beautiful smile. Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors including poor oral hygiene and a diet high in carbohydrates, you may not have the smile you desire. If missing teeth are your main concern, however, you’re in luck. Dental implants are growing in popularity because of their many amazing benefits

History of Dental Implants

If you think the desire to replace missing teeth is a new concept, guess again! People have been obsessed with having a full mouth of teeth for a long time. The jaws of ancient Mayans dating back to 600 AD have been found with stones and seashells in the place of teeth. Ancient Egyptians also used different items to replace missing teeth, such as gold and seashells. Shockingly, some of these “implants” actually seemed to have been successful.

Luckily, modern implants for replacing missing teeth have come a long way….but they still aren’t a brand new concept. The first implants were recorded in 1809, but they were far from successful. In 1952, however, an accidental discovery by Swedish professor Ingvar Brånemark changed everything, making beautiful and long-lasting dental implants a real possibility.

What Makes Them Work

What exactly was it that Brånemark discovered? It was a process he called osseointegration. In layman’s terms, he discovered that titanium can fuse to bone. At the time, he was actually studying blood flow, but when he inserted a titanium implant into a bone, he realized that, after some time, he couldn’t remove it. This discovery revolutionized tooth implants!

Your teeth aren’t just sitting in your jaw bone. They are connected to the jawbone by the periodontal ligament. This ligament sits between the jaw bone and your tooth, keeping them stuck together. Dental implants mimic this relationship through osseointegration. Instead of using the ligament to create a firm hold, the titanium fuses directly to the bone, allowing the implant to function similar to your natural dentition.

Benefits of Titanium Implants

Because titanium implants mimic natural teeth so well, they have many amazing benefits. For starters, they are strong. You may not realize it, but chewing is a lot of work and puts a lot of pressure on your teeth. Thanks to osseointegration, implants can withstand the daily grind. In fact, with proper care, a dental implant may even last the rest of your life.

Another benefit of dental implants is that they preserve the shape of your jaw and help support the soft tissues (cheeks, lips, etc.) of your face. Your teeth and jaw bone have a symbiotic relationship: your jaw bone helps support your teeth, and your teeth stimulate your jaw. If you don’t use it, you lose it – similar to how a muscle atrophies if you broke your leg and couldn’t use it for months. The same can be said of your jaw bone. If you have missing teeth, your jaw bone shrinks because it isn’t needed. Long term, this can actually change the shape of the lower portion of your face. Dental bridges and dentures don’t stimulate your jaw bone. Only natural teeth and dental implants do.

Dental implants have come a long way and are the most durable option for replacing missing teeth. If you have questions or would like more information about tooth implants, please contact our friendly staff here at Landmark Dental Group in Santa Cruz today!

Going above and beyond for our patients…

photo credit: Dollar Photo Club

A patient’s father was visiting from Peru and being that this is beautiful Santa Cruz, he decided to go for a swim in the ocean. The waves here can be somewhat sneaky, and he unfortunately lost his complete upper denture in the water. Here for a few weeks visiting lots of family and also will be travelling out of state before heading home, he quickly needed some help getting teeth back so he could continue to participate in family functions without feeling self-conscious.

Working with our long-time local lab technician, we had a brand new complete denture fabricated and delivered in under 3 days (a process that can normally take a month or more). This was also done with all necessary steps to ensure a comfortable, retentive, and esthetic result.

The patient was, needless to say, very happy with the results and we were glad we could help out!!

Who Has Time for Flossing?

You’ve heard again and again how important flossing is and how you should make it a daily habit…but the truth is, flossing does take time and who has time to floss when brushing for the recommended two minutes is already pressing it?

As the obligatory reiteration of what your dentist and hygienist are always lecturing you about, flossing is important because there are areas that the tooth-brush bristles just cannot reach and clean – namely the sides of the teeth where they butt up against each other. If not cleaned using floss, plaque and debris collect and fester and these areas become highly prone to cavities. Over time, plaque and calculus build up between teeth can also cause bone loss and periodontal disease.

Many people forego flossing because it can be “time-consuming,” the floss can be uncomfortably wrapped around fingers seemingly cutting off circulation, floss can leave hands feeling grimy, the gums will bleed, and it can be hard to reach the areas all the way back in the mouth.

There are marketed products out there, such as the water picks or “flossers” that are helpful in flushing out large chunks of debris from between teeth, but they cannot remove all the plaque that’s actually stuck to the sides of the teeth. This plaque is only removed by manually scrubbing these surfaces with floss. While the use of these water flossers is better than nothing, there is still no comparison to regular, old-fashioned flossing.

A great tip for patients is to try and find a convenient and regular time to floss. Many people are tired at night and just want to quickly brush and hop into bed, and flossing will again unfortunately have to wait until another night. We find that this is not a particularly consistent and convenient time to floss, so we suggest finding another time in the day – whether it is while watching a TV show, reading a book, or our personal favorite – in the shower. Really, flossing in the shower makes so much sense. Most people shower on a daily basis (so that will automatically make flossing more regular), your grimy-feeling hands will immediately be cleaned with soap and water (which you’re standing in already), and you can immediately rinse that blood-tinged taste out of your mouth (using the water that is already running down).

Check out the video of our brilliant tip in action!

Community Outreach

Drs. Tran and Weston gave a talk to a group of 2-5 year olds about what a dentist does, why teeth are important, how to brush and floss, and how eating and drinking healthy foods will help keep teeth strong. Assistant Marichelle then showed the kids proper brushing and flossing technique on our friend, Magi the Dragon. The kids all then put on gloves and masks and helped Magi clean her teeth!

We find that it is incredibly important to instill the importance of dental health in young children because many of today’s youth have no idea how neglecting teeth can negatively impact them in the future. It’s also important for them to hear about what we do as dentists, so that they’re not as frightened about visiting their dentist.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends parents bring their child in when they get their first tooth or before they turn 1 year old, and continue to come in at regular 6 month intervals. At these appointments, parents and children are encouraged to ask as many questions. We spend a great deal of time talking to parents about dietary habits and ways to minimize the risk of early childhood cavities. We also talk about oral habits (thumb-sucking, pacifier-use) and how this may affect the growth and development of a child’s jaw and teeth. Next, we perform a visual exam of the child’s teeth for cavities, developmental anomalies or concerns. This can be tricky, but we manage to find the most effective and comfortable position, oftentimes with the child sitting in a parent’s lap or in a knee-to-knee position. We’ll then brush the child’s teeth with a manual toothbrush and water, and paint on a fluoride varnish. As the child ages, we slowly introduce new instruments that we’ll use at their next visit, such as the mirror, “tooth counter,” “fancy power toothbrush,” air and water spray, and our suction “straw.”

We realize traumatic childhood experiences can cause long-term phobia, so it is high priority that we provide children with a positive experience at the dental office. One of the personal joys with having children in our practice is that we get to see them grow and change over time – and at 6 month intervals, these changes can be quite drastic and exciting!

Guiness Book of World Records

After years and years of telling family and friends about her “baby tooth,” Joyce Walen finally proved to everyone that she is indeed the oldest living person still retaining a primary tooth.

Landmark Dental Group was so honored to evaluate Joyce’s primary tooth, confirming the findings with a clinical evaluation and radiograph. Congratulations, Joyce!!

Post-Halloween Reminder

It’s been nearly 2 weeks since the ghosts, goblins, witches, and warlocks left, but no doubt there is still a plethora of that sweet, sugary loot laying around. Here is a short article that reminds us that although getting a cavity/filling isn’t the end of the world, it is best to try and avoid this altogether by practicing good oral hygiene and being mindful of dietary habits.

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/filling-cavities-can-be-a-laugh-but-dentists-still-suggest-limiting-gummies-at-halloween/?_r=0

Welcome to our new Blog!

Thank you for visiting our new website. We are excited to provide valuable information to our patients and others regarding dentistry and anything oral health related. Please feel free to ask questions or share your thoughts and you are always welcome to contact us directly either via email (landmark.dentist@gmail.com) or phone (831-464-1372).

First, we would like to introduce ourselves! We are the husband-and-wife team of Dr. Scott Weston and Dr. Trang Tran. We met and were classmates at the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry. We have always loved Santa Cruz and the Central Coast, which is why we chose to start our dental practice here four years ago, and we are happy to offer our services in a clean, safe, and comfortable environment. We also have great staff who help us in our mission to treat each patient as if they were a member of our own family. Leslie and Marichelle are well-trained and highly qualified dental assistants and we feel extremely grateful to have them as part of our team.

We look forward to providing you with some useful and interesting information! Don’t forget to check back regularly…

Call Us Today! (831) 464-1372