Transcription:
Dental Care Tips for Infants & Toddlers

Melanie Cole (Host): If you’re a new parent, you have a baby, or a toddler even, you may say to yourself I don’t need to worry about a dentist for quite a while because they’re not even growing teeth yet, and when they do, they’re only going to have a few in their mouth. But that’s not necessarily the case because it’s never too early to get a good start on healthy teeth. My guest is Dr. Marty Killeen. He’s a pediatric dentist with Wilderness Station Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Killeen, in my intro I said you know maybe it’s never too early. Is it? When should we take our child to the dentist for their first checkup?

Dr. Marty Killeen (Guest): You know, earlier than you would think, that’s the answer. We recommend getting kids in for their first dental checkup before their first birthday. A lot of reasons for that, but prevention is the main reason. We want to make sure we’re preventing cavities before they occur.

Host: If we bring them in before their first birthday, can you see any evidence of the teeth and how they’re coming in?

Dr. Killeen: Yeah you bet, you really can. You can not only see the new teeth and how they’re coming in, but then also the ones that are in and what the teeth look like themselves, what the enamel looks like. Part of the assessment at that age is figuring out are there areas that are higher risk of catching cavities, how did the enamel form, and then we evaluate the dietary habits. We try to give some guidance to the parents of okay do this, don’t do this, kind of change things, because we’re all with the idea of trying to prevent problems before they occur. So yeah, it’s really helpful for us to get an assessment and then let the parents know maybe some minor changes that can have a big effect on oral health.

Host: Well prevention is certainly the key, and if you could help us prevent the child needing braces, that would be really, really good down the line. But we know that’s not always possible. So then, let’s start with what do we do? Those little teeth are so adorable. What should we use to clean them?

Dr. Killeen: Yeah, great question. So I get asked about this often here in the office. Once those teeth come through the gum tissue, we want to start brushing them with a toothbrush. It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy, just a soft bristle toothbrush. We want to be just gently massaging the teeth, that way we’re knocking off the plaque and keeping those teeth nice and healthy. Even at a young age, getting that plaque off is great. It helps keep them clean and helps prevent cavities from occurring. The next question would be, well okay a soft bristle toothbrush, do you put anything on it? And here’s the answer to that, yes we do want to be using a fluoride toothpaste, but here’s the kicker, in the right amount. So on an infant, somebody that’s not able to spit the toothpaste out, we want just a tiny smear of fluoride toothpaste. It’s really a small amount, the amount of a grain of rice. You know I’ve got a little daughter at home, so as I brush her teeth, she’s not old enough to be able to spit it out, so I use a tiny smear. I see a few little bubbles in her mouth, but it’s by no means a mouthful of toothpaste. It’s a tiny bit, but that right there has been shown to help prevent decay and reduce the effects of too much fluoride toothpaste.

Host: Do you care if the toothpaste is berry fruity flavored or something along those lines?

Dr. Killeen: Oh man, great question. I don’t care, but your child will care. My daughter will taste the toothpaste if I try to use some of mine on hers and she says, oh Dad, too spicy, too spicy. So flavor matters to the kid. Honestly, from my standpoint, from the dental health standpoint, as long as it’s got the appropriate amount of fluoride in that toothpaste, I’m content, but I think your child will want some sort of tooty fruity flavor instead of the minty. I often hear kids say it tastes too spicy.

Host: Well I remember when I switched my kids over when they were getting to be a little older than toddlers when I said enough with the fruity flavored stuff, you know, and kind of get used to that, and it does work when you do that. Now there are some things that kids do when they’re a certain age for stress and anxiety, and one of them is thumb sucking, and we used to hear way back in the day and you’re going to make your teeth out of line and out of whack. Is that true or is that a myth?

Dr. Killeen: Well unfortunately it is true, and you know it’s a good way to cement in the need for orthodontics for braces down the road if we were to keep those habits up. A parent doesn’t think about this, but that thumb or pacifier goes in and it does push on structures in the mouth, and whether it’s the teeth or bone structures, it moves them, and so kind of timely intervention is really important on that. Say a pacifier – we want to try to get that out of the equation relatively early on. Usually around 12 months or 18 months of age, we’re encouraging parents to be done with that pacifier. It’s not doing any good and it’s going to be molding that upper arch and change the shape of the palate. Along the same lines, that thumb when it goes in, for a thumb sucker, or we’ll say a finger sucker too because we see a lot of finger suckers, if it stays in there long enough, it can mold that upper arch, it can change the shape. So we do recommend by age three to have that thumb habit or finger habit addressed and work actively to curb that habit.

Host: So how often are we supposed to be bringing our little kiddos into see you?

Dr. Killeen: Great question. Typically we like to see kids every six months. Now on some of these kids where we do identify some real high risk areas and we’re trying to prevent cavities, we’ll even see them more often than that just to keep an eye on things, but on average, every six months. We want to get kids in not only to look at their teeth, but also to get them comfortable with the environment and make sure that they’re having great dental experiences when they come to their dental home.

Host: So before we talk about diet, because this is a big thing that I really want to discuss with you, what is the difference between a pediatric dentist and a family dentist, and how is a parent to choose?

Dr. Killeen: Yeah, great question. With general dentists, they go through dental school and then they’re out in the real world and they’re seeing an older population, they’re seeing middle aged folks and then they’re seeing kids. They’re seeing a little bit of everybody. Similar to a pediatrician, a pediatric dentist goes on for special training just to treat kids. And there’s some nuances there. We specialize not only in treating and seeing real young kids and unique problems, but I think in general a pediatric dentist has a real good mindset of prevention and that’s what we’re about. To try and get in there early to prevent problems. We see a lot of referrals to our office from people all over the state who have some severe needs and they come and see us, and we get them fixed up. So yeah, we’re not only about prevention, but we’re also the provider for a lot of general dentists to serve as kind of a helping hand for them with their patients.

Host: That’s cool, what a fun profession that you’re in, Dr. Killeen. So let’s talk about diet because as the little guys are either nursing or bottle feeding, and then they start their little solids, and it’s all pretty mushy food anyway, and then maybe they get started on whole milk, maybe they have a juice here and there. What in our diet are we doing to our kid’s teeth that could either help or hurt their future dental needs?

Dr. Killeen: Well one of the things – we see so much sugar now in the kids’ diet, and that’s what we’re going to focus on are sugary beverages. Anymore, I really recommend my patients not to drink juice. I think the current guidelines are 4 oz of juice a day for a child, but gosh even on that I’d even say less than that. Zero is best with me. If I give my little three year-old a little glass of juice, she’ll drink a half a cup and then want more before you know it. Juice has a lot of sugar and so we try to stay away from things that have a high sugar content you know such as pops and juice and even chocolate milk. I know chocolate milk sounds like it’s healthy, but it’s got a lot of sugar. So the things I do like are white milk or a substitute of that during mealtime, and then in between water’s going to be best. And if you were to look at everyone in our country, I feel like everyone could drink a little more water. It’s a healthy habit to get into. So starting that at an early age, water is very healthy and it helps the body function. So avoiding the sugary drinks, sugar containing beverages and going for water is going to be best. The other thing is going to be diet. You know, as kids transition from being nursed or being bottle fed over to solid foods, there’s a lot of temptation. Whether it’s coming from grandparents or parents, we like to spoil our kids. So it’s tough to kind of spoil them at times but then also be mindful of the sugar they’re taking in. So I just warn parents and say, you know what, candy, I know kids love it but we’ve got to be mindful of it. Try to reduce it as it causes cavities. As well as the gummies, the fruit snacks. Boy, I call them the dreaded fruit snacks because they do create a lot of cavities. They sound healthy too. It’s like a misnomer, a fruit, but it’s really kind of like a gummy bear. They are easy. As a parent I understand, but I tell parents don’t give in. Don’t buy them whatever the sales gimmick is. Try to avoid purchasing those fruit snacks.

Host: That’s certainly true, and it is hard to tell your kids no when they see all the fun little pictures of animals and things on the snacks and they are easy to give. So wrap it up for us Dr. Killeen. What a great segment and such important information. Please tell parents listening what you’d like them to know about visiting their dentist for the first time with their new little babies or their little toddlers and what you want them to know as any way that we can possibly prevent tooth decay.

Dr. Killeen: You bet, I’d say the big three, I’d say get your child in for their first visit before their first birthday. That’s real important. In terms of prevention we can cut things off right then and there, so get them in early. Brush them once the teeth have come in. Brush them twice a day, doesn’t matter their age. Once they get teeth we’ve got to take care of them, and then also stay away from all the sugary sweets, the juice, the fruit snacks, the chocolate milk, as those things can be really hard on teeth.

Host: Great information, thank you so much Dr. Killeen for joining us today, and thanks to our Bryan Foundation partner, Cornhusker Bank. This is Bryan Health Podcast. For more information, please visit bryanhealth.org and if you’d like to hear more Bryan Health podcasts, go to bryanhealth.org/podcasts. I’m Melanie Cole, thanks so much for tuning in.