Breathing, sleep disturbance, and ADHD

Wow, I've spent another weekend inside a hotel at a study club filled with brilliant people. I leave more convinced than ever that I can help many children with ADHD and ADD just by getting them to breathe better. When the airway is insufficient due to insufficient jaw growth or enlarged adenoids tonsils, the posterior pharynx collapses down during sleep just like a sleep apnea patient. During the day, the mouth breathing and shallow overbreathing robs the body of the ability to efficiently transfer oxygen from blood to tissue..things like brain tissue. We blogged earlier about how breathing correctly can also reduce asthma and allergy symptoms. It really all comes down to breathing training. So look for coming programs at our office to help straighten your child's teeth while also improving their overall health and performance in school. Imagine a life without ADHD medication or labels placed on your child. Imagine a child that is able to focus their thoughts and energies. Now I realize that there are many different reasons for ADHD and ADD diagnosis, but what if many of those brain imbalances are due to a lack of oxygen thats allows focus and proper function? It all starts with breathing, so someone needs to develop a good system to evaluate and improve breathing for children. It might as well be me.

IV sedation versus oral sedation

Intravenous Sedation (IV) sedation in a dental office has an anesthesiologist come in and put an IV into the blood stream for sedating a young child so the dentistry can be accomplished. It is very effective and has the advantage of wearing off quickly once the IV is out and the child is taken to a much deeper state of unconsciousness safely. It is also a lot more costly as you are paying for 2 doctors in the room.

Oral sedation does not put the child in such a deep state of sedation, so the extra doctor to administer and monitor the drugs is unnecessary. It effectively sedates the uncooperative child, allowing work to be accomplished without undue stress or negative memories. Since the drug is not delivered directly into the blood stream, it takes longer to wear off completely, leaving a sometimes irritable, slightly off balance child the rest of the afternoon, but it can save as much as 2000 dollars over IV sedation, accomplishing the same objectives.

Many pediatric dentists these days only offer IV sedation, which in these economic times can put a difficult burden on families. This is one of the reasons we choose to offer oral sedation as an alternative to IV sedation.

The following is what one parent who was quoted for IV sedation at a different office had to say about her experience:

"My son had his first experience with cavities, and needed to have multiple teeth filled. Dr. Gary and his staff presented us with two options for anesthesia, and we are thankful we went with the oral sedation instead of I.V. sedation, as this was not the most economical option for us, but the entire process was painless, which as parents, was our main concern. Thank you for providing options for parents, and for cultivating a peaceful, kid-friendly environment where my children can learn how to keep their teeth and mouth healthy. You all are a blessing."
-Susan J.

The ABC's of breathing is the start to good health

I am amazed at the number of asthma patients I see in my practice these days. If they are not on asthma medicine, they seem to be on ADHD medicine, and often on both. If you are like me, especially if you have an asthmatic or ADHD child, you have to be frustrated with our medical system whose solution is simply more drugs.

I want to propose a new idea that may not help everyone with asthma or ADHD, but what if it was the solution or part of the solution to 10% of the cases? 20%? 50%? From the individual and family in that 10 percent this would be life changing. And from a society-wide standpoint, especially in the middle of this health care discussion, it could lower the cost of health care in ways we may not even realize.

What if we made breathing training our first line of training, and those it didn't help could then be placed onto medication. Just this one simple step could save billions (or conversely, cost drug companies billions in sales). I don't think this is a conspiracy or anything...it is more a bureaucracy and momentum thing. So let's think about doing something for ourselves by learning to breathe correctly and then go see the doctor if there is still a problem. If you or your child is already under the care of a doctor, pay close attention, becuase as you teach your child to properly breathe, your medications may need to be adjusted down or eliminated all together. DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION YET?

I want to hear from you. Post on FB, or in the comment section of this blog. I'll put more of my thoughts and solutions out there after I hear from you all in cyberspace.

Give Thanks and Give Back!

Our Pediatric Dental office will be holding a thanksgiving food drive and needs your help to make it a success!

For every can donated, you will be able to enter your name (or your child's name) to win a gift basket valued at over $150. (including a bleaching kit and power toothbrush). You get an entry for each can you bring, so the more cans you bring the greater the chance you have to win. Clear out that pantry, we even want your canned YAMS, and swing by 3200 Old Jennings Road by the Clay Utility Authority to have a chance at super white teeth while giving others a chance for a great thanksgiving!

New twist on cavities

Wow.

I sort of forgot about this blogging thing, so it has been a while...hopefully the archives are good enough to keep the new folks entertained and educated.

One of the neatest things I've been working on lately (besides raising my new 6 month old daughter!), is the continued quest to learn more about how oral bacteria work to establish themselves in the mouth. We were all taught in dental school that certain bacteria are the problem and if you get too many of them and feed them too often you will have cavities. And once you get them, you really can't get rid of them. So I was looking for ways to tackle this certain bacteria. Sometimes it worked, other times, not as well. Turns out that more recent information has the cavity problem rooted in an unruly ecosystem.

A good analogy is one of a classroom. It is not the child in the classroom causing the upset(although some are more likely than others to cause mischief), but rather, it is the environment in which the class is run. If there is no teacher, or a weak teacher, it gets out of hand quickly. So even if you get rid of all the bacteria that have been thought to cause the problems, but the system is still unruly, the "good" bacteria turn bad and can still cause cavities! It turns out the key to behaving bacteria in the mouth is the Oral pH. If you push the ecosystem with a high pH solution frequently enough, you get control and help you teeth get back in balance. If you cycle it often enough with acid drinks (yes, even diet soda) or sugar that lets the existing bacteria continue to make the acid environment they love, you stay out of balance (and keep getting cavities over and over). Unfortunately, most all the drinks we love, and most of the oral dental rinses have a low pH.

Armed with this new knowledge, we can help you avoid getting the unruly bacteria from the start with our infant dental consult by age 1, and then keep order in the "classroom" by helping the mouth keep a balanced pH environment. Pretty cool (but you still have to do your homework of eating right and brushing and flossing...only you will be like one of the smart kids where it is easier to bring home A's).

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