When to Start Flossing

Did you know that most 4 year olds need their teeth flossed? Many parents simply do not think of flossing their young child’s teeth until it is too late. Don’t let this be you!

As soon as your child's teeth "touch," it is time to floss. Most children's front teeth have space between them, but the back teeth rarely have this space. They "touch." My son Graham (who is only 21 months) needs his incisors (the front ones) flossed because they are tight and touch each other.

Flossing is especially important if your child gets any kind of sugar in between meals such as fruit juice, gummy vitamins, or snacks such as fruit roll ups or Scooby snacks.

I know what you may be thinking… “It is hard enough to brush my wild man or princess each night, and now you want me to floss? I won’t have any fingers left after that exercise!"

Relax. We have a good solution that makes flossing easy and maybe even fun.

First, go to the drug store and look for floss helpers. Stay away from the ones marketed for kids (like the animal flossers and such). They have an awkward angle for back teeth and the floss is never very tight, which is important. Reach makes a very good flosser with prestrung inserts.

Then lay you child on a bed with their head hanging off or let them lay on your lap on the couch where there is good light. You will find this makes getting to those back teeth much easier and saves your fingers from being chew toys.

We are always happy to help coach you on proper technique, so if you are having trouble, stop in for a flossing demonstration or technique help.

Board Certified Pediatric Dentist

It seems like some time ago that I took the actual test, but I finally got the results of my board exam back. I passed!

"What does this mean?" you ask. It is basically a “feather in my cap” as my college cross country coach would often say (he was always speaking in clichés).

It means I climbed the mountain because it was there. It means I am a glutton for punishment. It means I love pediatric dentistry so much I am willing to study over 200 scientific articles and then take a test on my ability to recall their publication date, authors, and content just to qualify. Then I studied hard (again), went before peer examiners, and took a two hour oral exam to demonstrate my mastery of pediatric dental concepts.

It means I am proud to be one of the the members of my profession crazy enough to subject himself to such a thing and pass.

EMG Muscle Awareness Training

We finally did it. Now we have a way to measure muscle activity and visually show children what a correct swallow and tongue position should be.

For young children with improper muscle function, we anticipate this new training program will greatly reduce time in braces, sometimes avoiding significant orthodontic needs altogether! It will also make retaining the corrections we achieve with braces more likely and much easier. So what is this new technology?

Electromyography Muscle Awareness Training. Think of it as physical therapy for the mouth. Surface leads measure muscle impulses allowing us to devise a workout for your mouth muscles and retrain the muscles using biofeedback. Every new ortho patient will be screened, so we can assess if your child will benefit from this program.

You see, muscles and muscle patterns are often the root cause of crooked teeth. They exert forces on the teeth and if those forces are not taken into consideration, they will make the braces take longer. Eventually these forces may even cause a smile to relapse to some degree of crookedness if retainers are not worn for life…and who wants to deal with that! If we can correct dysfunctional muscle activity when children are young, then a child may not need braces at all, or at least a much simpler (and shorter) case.

So the question now becomes this: "Do you want to go somewhere that will just straighten your child's teeth, or do you want to address the root cause of why they aren’t straight in the first place?"

Jenna is Back!

We are also excited to welcome back Jenna H. Jenna worked with us back in 2006 as an intern, and we liked her so much we kept her on until she returned to hygiene school. Now that she is done with FCCJ's dental hygiene program and has passed her national boards (way to go!), she will be working two days a week while she plans her upcoming wedding in September. Feel free to tell her all your fun wedding stories while she tends to your child.

Our Newest Team Member: Stacey J.

We are excited to welcome the newest member to our team: Stacey J. She has extensive experience both in pediatric and orthodontic offices, and she came through our door at the perfect time, an answer to our prayer. She has almost seamlessly stepped into the void left by Elaina, and we are thankful to the Navy for moving her from San Diego to Jacksonville.

Stacey has two children of her own and can be seen out on the town looking for good Italian food with her family. So far nothing in Jacksonville touches what they enjoyed while on their military tour in Italy.

Please give her a big welcome when you see her and make her feel at home down here in the South.