Give Kids a Smile 2009

WOW!

We just finished up our 2009 GKAS. We were able to help 96 children and did over 36,000 dollars worth of dentistry. The patients and parents this year were such troopers and very gracious. My WONDERFUL staff is to be commended for all the hard work before the event, during the event, and cleaning up afterwards. We should all sleep well tonight. AND they all were donating their time. A very special thanks to the adult dentists who came out to help...they are all wonderful people and clinicians so if you need a good dentist, you can't go wrong with any of these.....Dr. Greg Archambo, Dr. Ted Heusner, Dr. Jennifer Ortega, and Dr. Robert Rosenblum. We had so many hygienists come and volunteer from other clinics, I was amazed. Thank you those who responded to my mass emails for help when I saw how many patients we would have this year. Thanks to TV 4 for coming to give us a boost...we received over 300 calls because of their broadcast and were able to fill up 3 other Give Kids a Smile events around Jacksonville with our overflow patients. That is such a big deal as I know many dentists who have given up doing GKAS events for lack of patient turn out. All and all, it the best event yet. Now I'm gonna go home and watch a movie or sleep or something! :)

Dr. Gary

Join our facebook group!

Greetings,

We decided to make a facebook group "I love Myers Pediatric Dentistry". If you like our office, our website, or this blog and have a facebook account, please search us out and join our group. You can click this link

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45563162335&ref=nf

Let's see where this goes. Of course the object, as always, is to have people learn how to keep their kids teeth healthy and cavity free.

Avoid the SHOT ("yes we can")

How many of you cringe and may stop reading just because of the picture to the right? Please don't. There is VERY COOL information to follow!

My favorite dental movie of all time is Little Shop of Horrors. Bill Murray plays the sicko dental patient who loves getting treatment. But outside of Hollywood, who likes getting a shot? I remember getting my first (and only I'm proud to say) filling at age 15. I was so nervous and my heart was racing, but it was my dad giving the shot so I had to behave! Much later my heart still raced as we practiced on each other in dental school.

Today, we use gentle preparation methods such as air abrasion, micro preps, and early detection with lasers to avoid having to give shots when doing fillings. We also stress infant exams, remineralization of teeth, bacteria control, and diet and hygiene coaching to avoid cavities in the first place (which is the BEST way to avoid shots). And now I have the coolest way yet to avoid the shot. But sorry parents, this one is ONLY FOR KIDS.

Low level lasers, or cold lasers, are the latest thing in sports medicine and physical therapy. A cold laser is low power laser energy that penetrates into tissues, but does not cut or emit heat, and they seem to stimilate healing in soft tissue. Apparently some bored, or creative, therapist decided to try it out on some teeth. It disrupts the nerve signal to the brain and basic fillings can be done without pain and without shots.....but only in baby teeth. I have been using this technology in my practice since September and have been totally AMAZED at how well it works. Parents love it. I love it. My staff loves it. My wife loves it (helps her headaches), my friend loves it (helped his thrown out back), my wife's friend loves it (helped her ankle sprain)...you get the picture.

Imagine it. No scary shot. No numb feeling. No children biting lips and cheeks as the numbness wears off. Revolutionary. So if your fear of needles has kept you from bringing your child to the dentist, wait no longer as our laser doesn't work for root canals.

And for you, mom or dad, there is always nitrous and valium :)

We need your help!

Give Kids a Smile: Friday, February 6. Can you think of a family in need?

Every year we do a free service day for needy children (age 2-13) in February, which is dental health month. Last year we were able to do $26,000 worth of free dentistry! Believe it or not, the hardest challenge each year is to find patients. This year, we are going to rely on you, our patients and blog readers to help us out.

We are asking that you think of a family you may know as a neighbor, family member or in your church who has no insurance, struggling financially, and is in need of dental care or has never even been to a dentist. You can go to our website "contact us" page and send us a note nominating that family for care. We will contact them, make sure they qualify under the department of health guidelines, and get them the care they need.

Think of me as the Ty Pennington of Pediatric Dentistry!

We don't want anyone to fall through the cracks, and we understand this is a tough time to have cavities. As always, we want to help others AVOID any (or any more) cavities. So even if you don't know any families to nominate, please share our website and information with someone you know. We certainly appreciate the opportunity to serve you throughout the year, and you mak it possible to set aside a day to Give Kids a Smile.

Low Sugar Juice

All the juice companies are coming out with their own version of low sugar juice alternatives. Curious about these products, I went and read the labels. It looks to me like they just added more water. Less sugar for your child, more profit for them (water is cheap). Parents used to make low sugar juice at home all the time. Now, through the wonders of marketing, you get to pay a premium for it.

So please don't be fooled. However you get it, "low sugar" juice still has enough punch (pardon the pun) to cause cavities if consumed regularly (and slowly) between meals on a daily basis. We see it all the time.

While I'm thinking of juice, an article just came out today on the CBS news website indicating that many doctors are now saying Juice is as bad as soda from a calorie, obesity, and cavity standpoint. While I like their thinking, on a scale of "Good to Bad" I put soda as "VERY BAD" while juice is simply "BAD" for teeth.

Here's the link. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/11/health/main673229.shtml

Keep Everyone Smiling Through Halloween

It may not be your worst nightmare, but Halloween can present many parenting problems in addition to the usual fun and thrills and chills of a haunted house. As your child’s dentist, I hope to provide some guidance on how to navigate through this sticky season.

In my family growing up, if mom took me trick or treating, I came home with very little loot, but if dad took us we had to have the radio flyer to haul it all home! So here you are after the night of trick or treating in the neighborhood that had the reputation for handing out the really good candy. Your children each have at least 20 lbs of candy…what do you do?

Scenario #1: Don’t let them get too much at once, so they can only eat 10 pieces a day and the candy stash lasts well past Christmas.
Scenario #2: They have access to their stash at will and the hoarders make it last through Christmas and the “spenders” have it gone before the week is up.
Scenario #3: Make them eat all of it that very night in hopes they get such a belly ache they never want candy again.
Scenario #4: Throughout the week, you successfully sneak candy out of their stash, and then either eat it yourself or throw it away.

Surprisingly, the best dental scenario is #3, but most physicians and parents won’t recommend this tactic.

What can I recommend? At least 10 days prior to Halloween, come by our office and buy some cavity-fighting herbal lollipops to control the cavity-causing bacteria while they have higher than normal sugar consumption in the month after Halloween. This becomes very important if your child is prone to getting cavities.

What else can you do? How teeth survive Halloween actually depends as much on your child’s risk for cavities as how they eat their candy. Not surprisingly, the basic principles we recommend every other day of the year also apply following Halloween. However, if your child is high risk for cavities, you have to follow these principles more exactly or your child is more likely to experience problems.

Principle #1: Time your sugar with meals when the body’s defenses are best able to keep your mouth in balance.
Principle #2: Don’t spread your sugars out over long periods of time. Consume them as rapidly as possible so your body can get back to fixing the damage.
Priciple #3: Eat your sugars in a form that doesn’t stay in the mouth as long. For example, gummy sugars are worse than chalky candy. Sugar bubble gum is particularly bad if you chew it for a long period.
Principle #4: Clean your teeth BEFORE you eat your sugar. This will remove the plaque that holds the sugar and a large number of bacteria that converts the sugar to the acid that breaks down the teeth.

We hope these guidelines help your family fight cavities throughout the whole year!

Keisha’s Corner: Sports Drinks

This is the time of year many teenagers and youth in the practice tell me about their sports practices and games. In turn, I also have more kids acknowledge they are drinking sports drinks on a regular basis.

While sports drinks can be especially beneficial for replacing electrolytes in children intensely exercising for longer than 60 minutes, adopting particular sports drink habits can sometimes threaten the health of their mouth. Sports drinks are extremely acidic (optimal pH for cavity bugs) and have large amounts of carbohydrates (food for cavity bugs).

Taking the sports drink “off the field” is the most alarming trend to guard against. Once kids and parents get acquainted with the taste of sports drinks, they often start consuming them even when they are not exercising. The sports drinks end up in the fridge where they are consumed on demand and throughout the day.

Like all other sugary drinks, controlling frequency and timing is essential.

Here are some additional practices recommended by the Chicago Dental Society to help protect your child’s teeth from decay:

• Use sports drinks in moderation. Water is the best drink for light workouts when less body fluids are lost


• Dilute sports drinks with water


• If possible, use a straw to reduce contact between the drink and teeth. Do not hold the drink in your mouth or swish it around.


• Do not brush your teeth immediately after consuming a sports drink. The acid in sports drinks makes teeth softer and brushing can cause protective enamel to be lost.

Please keep in mind the 20 ounces of sports drink in your child’s bottle probably contains more electrolytes than he or she will need. Water should still be your child’s primary source of hydration. Most importantly, keep the sports drink reserved for the time your child truly needs the energy and mineral replacement: during intense athletic activity on the field and not for hydration around the house.

I have the privilege of discussing soccer games and football practice with your child twice a year. You are there every kick and tackle along the way. I hope you feel better equipped to coach your child for good oral health during the fall sports season! Go team!