Are you a new mom and wondering why your baby is irritable, crying, and  has swollen gums? Your baby is going through a common dental problem, teething. Want a couple of tips of what to look for and how to handle this common oral care problem?

According to an article at aquafresh.com, “Common Children’s Oral Care-Teething”

"Let’s be honest — it’s not an easy time for either of you. As the baby teeth start to push their way through the gum line, they can cause your baby some discomfort — commonly known as teething. Some children suffer more than others. The good news is that the pain from each tooth should stop as soon as it’s visible.

You’ll notice the symptoms even before the teeth come through those little gums.

Here are some of the things to look for:

• Even more of a desire to chew on things than usual!
• Swollen gums
• Hot red cheeks
• More dribbling than usual
• Irritability

If your child has other symptoms, such as a fever, it’s probably not due to teething. Consult your doctor as usual.

There are several things you can do to help your children cope with teething:

• Extra cuddles and TLC are the best place to start.
• Giving them a chilled (but not frozen hard) teething ring to chew on may help to soothe the gums.
• Ask your doctor or dentist to recommend a sugar-free infant teething gel. You should always consult a doctor before giving your children any kind of medication —particularly when they are young.
• Never rub alcohol on your children’s gums or place an aspirin against the tooth or gum.”

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This post is for all the mothers, as a mother you only want the best for your children. Children model their mothers from a young age, but what about their habits in regard to dental care. Is your oral health your #1 priority? If it’s not, do you think your children will pick your poor dental care habit?

According to an article at colgate.com, “Mothers’ poor oral health can affect children’s dental care”

“A 27-year-long study suggests that mothers with poor oral health are likely to have children who also have poor oral health when they are adults. The study was published online in the Journal of Dental Research (Jan. 19, 2011).

More than 1,000 children born in New Zealand in 1972 and 1973 were examined at age 5. More than 900 participants were examined again at age 32. Participants’ oral health was compared to 835 of the mothers’ self-rated oral health reported in 1978.

Nearly half (45 percent) of the children whose mothers rated their own oral health as “very poor” had severe tooth decay, and four in every 10 participants had tooth loss as adults.

Researchers theorize that a combination of shared genetic factors and environmental risk factors that affect oral health—including social/economic status, attitudes, beliefs and oral health knowledge—are passed from mother to child.

Scientists say that it’s important for mothers to visit the dentist regularly, improve their own oral health and educate their children in good oral health practices.

The American Dental Association advises parents to teach children the importance of oral hygiene at an early age, so when they grow up they will continue good habits that will contribute to their overall health. Oral hygiene, just like diet and exercise, should be factored together when teaching children how to keep themselves healthy.

Parents should clean their baby’s gums with a clean wet gauze pad or washcloth after each feeding. When teeth start to appear, brush them with a child-sized toothbrush and plain water and begin flossing when at least two teeth begin to touch.

Regular dental visits should begin by the child’s first birthday.

By age six or seven, children should be able to brush their own teeth twice a day but often require supervision until about age 10 or 11, to make sure they are doing a thorough job. Since each child is different, your dentist can help you determine whether your child is brushing and flossing properly.

Parents should make sure children continue to visit the dentist regularly. They should also ask the dentist about dental sealants, a protective plastic coating that can be applied to the chewing surfaces of the back teeth where decay often starts.”

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What does it mean if your gums bleed? What if you are currently on blood thinners what should you do? First task, you need to notify your dentist before any dental procedure.

According to an article at oralb.com, “Bleeding gums”

"There are many reasons for bleeding gums, but one to keep in mind is that gums can bleed due to a person’s use of blood thinners. An obvious way to cure bleeding gums would be to stop the medication, but blood thinners are necessary for many people, since they are designed to prevent blood clots. Some blood thinners are meant to be taken long-term, while others are prescribed for a few weeks only.

Be sure to tell your dentist that you are taking a blood thinner before you schedule a dental procedure. You may need to stop taking the medication for a few days prior to the procedure and undergo a blood test. But don’t stop taking medication without consulting your doctor. Communication is the key to successfully managing a dental procedure and maintaining good oral hygiene while taking blood thinners.

People who take blood thinners must be especially careful in all aspects of personal hygiene, including shaving, tooth brushing, and flossing. Use a toothbrush with very soft bristles, and soft floss, such as Oral-B’s Satin Floss, to reduce any discomfort associated with oral care and to reduce your risk for bleeding gums. Brush and floss gently; don’t apply too much pressure. Also, be sure to wear a mouth guard if you participate in a contact sport, because the blood thinners will make you more susceptible to bleeding in the event of a mouth injury."

Dr. McElhinney of Reno Laser Dentistry makes your oral health care his # 1 priority. His staff is very knowledgeable and professional click here to contact his office to set-up an appointment.

Our smile is one of the first things that people notice, so it’s very important that you make oral health a priority along with your diet. Do you think what you eat has an impact on the health of your teeth? How about a couple of tips on what foods and drinks; are great not only for your diet, but your smile as well.

According to an article at msnbc.msn.com, “eat and drink your way to better oral health”

“What you eat and don’t eat can play a huge role in how white your teeth are. It seems certain fruits, vegetables and other foods can aid in your quest for whiter teeth. Here’s what you should know about the white smile diet:

The crunch factor

Apples, cauliflower, celery and carrots work to whiten because they function as an abrasive scrub for teeth. These foods are nature’s toothbrush. They also stimulate the production of saliva, which helps keep plaque from forming. Stain sticks to plaque.

Orange ya glad?

The acid in oranges and pineapples may whiten and brighten the surface of the teeth. The acid also contains enzymes that kill bacteria that cause tooth decay and bad breath. “Saliva is the body’s wonder fluid,” says Chase, and eating juicy citrus increases saliva production that washes away foods that stain like coffee, soda and red wine.

Strawberry patch

Strawberries contain an enzyme called malic acid that can whiten teeth. Munch berries several times a week to naturally whiten chompers.

Pass the cheese, please

Dairy products such as yogurt, milk and hard cheeses like cheddar contain lactic acid, which may help protect teeth against decay. Researchers think proteins in yogurt may bind to teeth and prevent them from attack by harmful acids that cause cavities. Dairy is also loaded with calcium, which guards and strengthens bone that holds teeth in place. Plus, chewing hard cheese creates saliva that helps remove food particles that stain.

Nix these

You can also try to avoid stain-causing foods. Any food that causes a stubborn laundry stain can discolor teeth, too. If you look at a tooth under a microscope, it looks like a kitchen sponge with many little nooks, crannies and holes. When stain-causing foods and beverages get stuck in those nooks and crannies, especially over time, dark stains develop. While we hear a lot about coffee, tea and red wine, soda is actually one of the worst offenders. It not only contains acids that open up those nooks but then stains them with cola color.

While you’re at it, be sure to go easy on other teeth-staining food and drink, such as coffee, tea, blueberries, red wine, soy sauce and tobacco.

“It only takes seven minutes for destruction to start, but you can stop it by rinsing with plain water for seven seconds until you can brush and remove plaque,” says Dr. Joe Kravitz, a Washington D.C. dentist and author of “Dirty Mouth.” If you can’t get to a toothbrush or drink water, chew sugarless gum to remove stain food causing particles.”

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This is a warning for all the parents that have a teenager that may want a piercing in their oral cavity. I understand teens want to express themselves they just need to do it a safer way. How about having some great tips on why your teen shouldn’t get a piercing in their oral cavity. Want to learn all the risk that may come with an oral piercing?

According to an article at dentist.net, “metal piercings may pose a greater risks to oral health”

“Studies have shown that oral piercings can cause numerous problems in the oral cavity, including chipped, fractured, or cracked teeth and gingival recession. And yet they continue to remain popular with many patients, especially teens. And although dental practitioners would prefer their patients not get any piercings at all, if the patient insists, dentists can tell them to get plastic jewelry instead of metal because it may be less harmful.

That’s the conclusion of a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health (January 18, 2011) that found that stainless steel jewelry can accumulate more bacteria than jewelry made from plastics such as Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE).

“In our previous study on the prevalence of periodontal complications with median lip piercings (Quintessence, October 2010, Vol. 41:9, pp. 731-737), we observed significant biofilm development on the subjects’ own piercings,” lead author Ines Kapferer, MD, from the department of restorative and operative dentistry at the Innsbruck Medical University Dental School, told DrBicuspid.com. “Therefore, we were interested in which species colonize on oral piercings and whether biofilms on oral piercings might be a risk for systemic infections or periodontal infections.”

While it is not surprising that total bacterial load is higher on titanium and steel piercings than on PTFE or polypropylene piercings, Dr. Kapferer said, this is the first study to consider such a wide range (80) of bacterial species, he noted.

Working with 85 subjects with tongue piercings, Dr. Kapferer and her colleagues conducted baseline dental exams, and then randomly allocated the patients to sterile piercings of four different materials: stainless steel, titanium, PTFE, and polypropylene. Two weeks later, the researchers collected and processed microbiological samples from the study participants.

Among their findings:

Nearly 29% of subjects reported lingual recessions, while 5% reported tooth chipping on one tooth each.

With the exception of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Fusobacterium nucleatum species, and Parvimonas micra, bacteria associated with periodontitis were not commonly found in the samples from studs or piercing channels.

Of the 80 bacterial species, 67 were found at significantly higher levels in samples from stainless steel than from PTFE or polypropylene piercings.

Pathogens found in statistically significant higher counts on stainless steel piercings than polypropylene or PTFE included Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenza, and the paropathogenic species Porphyromonas gingivalis, Eikenella corrodens, Prevotella intermedia, F. nucleatum species, P. micra, and Campylobacter rectus. Also, staphylococci were found on steel and titanium studs, but not on polypropylene and PTFE.

“The low bacterial counts from piercing channels suggest that having a tongue pierced would not contribute to an increased risk for oral infection,” the authors concluded. “The present study demonstrated that studs made of steel might promote the development of a biofilm, whereas those made of polytetrafluoroethylene or polypropylene may be rather inert to bacterial colonization.”

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